New Delhi, Sept. 10 -- A Delhi court on Thursday ordered framing of money laundering charges against former railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife Rabri Devi, son Tejashwi Yadav and six others in the Enforcement Directorate's case regarding the alleged IRCTC hotel scam.
Out of 16 accused, Special Judge Vishal Gogne discharged seven and framed charges against nine.
Pronouncing the substantive portions of the order orally, the judge said the exacting standards of finding the criminal intent or mens rea (mental state to commit a crime) was not needed at the present stage and the court had to only see whether there is a strong suspicion against the accused.
The court has already framed charges of corruption against the RJD patriarch and 11 others last October in the CBI case in the alleged scam.
Judge Gogne said the nature, timing, and course of investigation do not indicate the complaint to have been motivated by political vendetta against Lalu Prasad, as had been argued by his counsel.
"Some dubious deals are indeed cut in plain sight, with the public layer serving to camouflage rather than to pry. The court would mindfully observe that the special courts for CBI and PMLA matters, especially for MP and MLA cases, exist precisely to detect such masked and circuitous deals, which strike Faustian bargains to trade public trust and assets for personal gains," the court said.
It said the ED's allegations, spanning from 2005 to 2014, strongly indicate that, under the stewardship of Lalu Prasad, the then railways minister, a tender was manipulated by railway officials for the award of the lease of hotels at Ranchi and Puri to Sujata Hotels.
"As quid pro quo, the directors of Sujata Hotels, namely Vinay Kochhar and Vijay Kochhar, transferred their prime land at Patna to a company named DMCPL, which was controlled by Prem Chand (PC) Gupta and his wife Sarla Gupta, close associates of Lalu Prasad, at undervalued rates," the court said.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.