Delhi: Court will decide on Sep 17 whether to take cognizance in IRCTC scam case

Delhi's Patiala House Court on Tuesday fixed September 17 as the date for deciding whether to take cognizance of Enforcement Directorate's (ED) charge sheet in the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) scam case.

ED had earlier filed a charge sheet against Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad Yadav, Rabri Devi, Tejaswi Yadav and others in connection with the 2006 IRCTC hotels tender scam.

A Delhi court had on August 31 granted bail to all accused, including Rabri Devi and Tejashwi Yadav, in a money laundering case related to the IRCTC scam. The court, however, did not grant bail to Lalu Yadav, whose bail application was pending as he could not appear before the court.

The former chief minister is currently lodged in Ranchi's Birsa Munda Central Jail for his involvement in the multi-crore fodder scam.

In its charge sheet, the ED had also named RJD supporters P. C. Gupta and his spouse Sarla Gupta, a company - Lara Projects and ten others as accused in the IRCTC hotels maintenance case.

The case is in connection with alleged irregularities in allotment of a contract to a private company for the maintenance of IRCTC hotels located in Ranchi and Puri when Lalu was heading the Railway Ministry from 2004 to 2009.

The prosecution report stated that a conspiracy was hatched in pursuance of which two hotels of Indian railways, were first transferred to the IRCTC and were later given on lease to Patna-based Sujata hotel Pvt. Ltd for maintenance and upkeep.