Misa Bharti joins ED probe in land-for-job case

New Delhi, March 25 (IANS) Misa Bharti, Rajya Sabha MP and daughter of former Union Railways Minister Lalu Prasad, on Saturday joined the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) probe in connection with the land-for-job case.

Misa reached the ED headquarters in the national capital at around 11 a.m.

Earlier this month, the probe agency had stated that unaccounted cash amounting to Rs 1 crore, $1,900, 540 gm gold and 1.5 kg of gold jewellery and other incriminating documents were recovered during raids at 24 locations in Delhi, Mumbai, Patna and Ranchi based on specific intelligence inputs.

The central agency also claimed to have detected around Rs 600 crore which were Proceeds of Crime (POC) in the form of immovable properties worth Rs 350 crore and transactions of Rs 250 crore routed through various 'benamidars'.

PMLA investigation conducted so far has revealed that several pieces of land at prominent locations in Patna and other areas were illegally acquired by Lalu Prasad's family in lieu of jobs in the Railways, the probe agency said.

The current market value of these land parcels is more than Rs 200 crore, it added.

Several benamidars, shell entities and beneficial owners for these lands have been identified.

"A property situated at D-1088, New Friends Colony, Delhi (independent 4 storied bungalow, registered in the name of AB Exports Private Limited, a company owned and controlled by Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and family) was shown to have been acquired at a value of mere Rs 4 lakhs, the present market value of which is approximately Rs 150 crore," an ED source had claimed.

Huge amount of cash/POC were infused in purchasing this property and few Mumbai based entities, dealing in the gems and jewellery sector were used to channel ill-gotten proceeds of crime in this regard, he added.

"The property has been, though, on paper declared as offices of AB Exports Private Limited and AK Infosystems Pvt ltd, it is being exclusively used as residential premises by Tejashwi Prasad. During the searches, Tejashwi Prasad was found to be staying at this house and was found to be using this house as his residential property," the ED alleged.

Four parcels of lands acquired by Lalu's family in just Rs 7.5 lakhs from poor Group-D applicants were sold to Syed Abu Dojana, former RJD MLA by Rabri Devi with huge gains at Rs 3.5 crore in a collusive deal.

The ED said that investigation has further revealed that a major portion of the amount thus received, was transferred to the account of Tejashwi Prasad.

"Investigations revealed that in a similar fashion, lands were taken from several poor parents and candidates in lieu of Group-D jobs in the Railways. Investigation revealed that in many Railways Zones, more than 50 per cent of recruited candidates were from constituencies of Lalu Prasad's family members," the ED said.