ED will question Lalu Yadav soon

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday issued a notice to Rabri Devi, former Bihar Chief Minister and wife of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav. The notice was sent as part of the ED’s money laundering probe into alleged irregularities committed in awarding tenders for development, maintenance and operation of railway hotels at Ranchi and Puri to a private firm when Lalu Yadav was serving as Railway Minister. Sources in ED told The Sunday Guardian that the agency would question Lalu Yadav soon.

A senior ED official confirmed to The Sunday Guardian that the agency has sent a notice asking Rabri Devi to appear before it on 26 September. The ED had recently registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Lalu Yadav and his family members, including Rabri Devi. “We have ample evidence against Lalu Prasad Yadav and others and the ED will ask Lalu Yadav to join the probe soon,” an ED source said.

“The notice is a routine part of the investigation. All the persons named in the CBI FIR and later in the FIR filled by ED will be called for proper investigation,” the same ED official quoted above said. Lalu Yadav himself has been asked to appear before the CBI in Delhi on 27 September, sources said.

A senior CBI official confirmed that the names included in the CBI FIR are: Lalu Prasad Yadav, Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav, Sarla Gupta (wife of Prem Chand Gupta, RJD MP), Vijay Kochhar and Vinay Kochhar, directors of Sujata Hotels, Delight Marketing Company Ltd, now known as Lara Projects, and the then IRCTC managing director P.K. Goel.