Land for jobs ‘corruption' case: CBI ‘cherry picking' to target Lalu family, argues lawyer in court
Lalu and his family have been accused by the CBI of enabling the recruitment of candidates for Group D railway substitute jobs who had allegedly transferred them land parcels as a quid pro quo.
'They're trying to dig deep to open all threads against the family… They're trying to link their names somehow,' argued Senior Advocate Maninder Singh, who is representing Lalu's daughters Misa Bharti and Hema Yadav. Singh was accompanied in court by advocate Aekta Vats.
'The land sales were years apart from the dates when the jobs were given… How can the CBI connect the two,' he argued before Special Judge Vishal Gogne of Rouse Avenue Courts. 'In three days, the Pacific Ocean changed due to the tsunami… multiple years is a long long time to wait.'
'This case seems to be the interpretation of one gentleman who sits in a room determined to point out that something was wrong,' the advocate said.
'The CBI has said there were no requirements for the jobs and that there was no urgency… Has any (land) seller ever told them they were under pressure from Lalu Prasad,' Singh asked the court.
Singh also said while there were 103 accused persons in the case, there was a mention of just 12 land parcels in the chargesheets.
Earlier last month, the CBI which was represented in court by Senior Advocate and Special Public Prosecutor D P Singh and Advocate Manu Mishra, had argued that Lalu had threatened Railway Ministry officials to speed up the recruitment process.
The CBI case pertains to the alleged transfer of land at cheap rates to the RJD chief and his family in return for appointments made in Group-D substitute jobs in the Central Railways between 2004 and 2009, when Lalu was the Railway Minister.
In its multiple chargesheets, the CBI has claimed that there were several discrepancies in the documents furnished by those who were given jobs in exchange for land such as candidates having sequential roll numbers on their caste and residence certificates.
As per the CBI, Lalu had earlier acquired over 1 lakh square feet of land for only Rs 26 lakh as against the circle rate of over Rs 4.39 crore.
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