Land-for-jobs scam: Lalu moves SC for stay on trial proceedings

Former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad has moved the Supreme Court challenging a Delhi High Court order refusing to stay the trial proceedings in the CBI's land-for-jobs case.

Advertisement

The RJD president’s petition against the May 29 order of the Delhi High Court is likely to come up for hearing before a Bench of Justice MM Sundresh and Justice N Kotiswar Singh on Friday.

Noting that there was no compelling reason to stay the trial proceedings, the high court had issued notice to the CBI on his plea for quashing of the CBI FIR and deferred the hearing to August 12.

The case related to Group D appointments in West Central Zone of the Indian Railways, Jabalpur, during Lalu Prasad's tenure as the Railway Minister between 2004 and 2009, allegedly in return for land parcels ‘gifted’ by the recruits in the name of the RJD supremo's family or associates.

The case was registered on May 18, 2022, against Yadav and others, including his wife, two daughters, unidentified public officials and private persons. The former chief minister said the FIR was lodged in 2022 -- almost a 14-year delay -- despite the CBI's initial enquiries and investigations being closed after filing of closure report before the competent court.

However, Yadav called it "regime revenge and political vendetta" as the initiation of investigation without such approval vitiated the entire proceedings since inception with the being a "jurisdictional error".

He contended that "Initiation of the fresh investigation in the concealment of the previous investigations and its closure reports is nothing but an abuse of the process of law.”.

In his petition in the high court, Prasad sought the quashing of the FIR and three chargesheets filed in 2022, 2023 and 2024, and the subsequent orders of cognisance. He submitted that he was being made to suffer through an "illegal, motivated investigation" in violation of his fundamental right to a fair investigation.

"Both, the initiation of the present enquiries and investigations are non est as both have been initiated without a mandatory approval under Section 17A of the PC Act. Without such approval, any inquiry or investigation undertaken would be void ab initio," he submitted.