IRCTC case: Court grants time to CBI to prosecute accused

A Delhi court on Friday granted one month time to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to procure sanction from concerned authorities to prosecute an accused in a graft case against former railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family members related to the allotment of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) hotels.

The court directed the CBI to get the required nod and prosecute an additional member of railway board B.K. Agarwal, who was the then group general manager of IRCTC.

The next hearing on the matter is slated for July 27.

Earlier in April, the CBI filed a chargesheet against Lalu, his wife Rabri Devi and 14 others as part of an investigation in the IRCTC hotel tender case.

The investigation revealed that Lalu had entered into a conspiracy with the proprietors of a private hotel based at Patna and others, and in pursuant to the said conspiracy, managed undue favours to them through certain officers of the IRCTC, New Delhi, in exchange for the leasing of existing Railway Hotels at Ranchi and Puri.

It was further alleged that in consideration of this undue favour, a high-value prime commercial land at Patna was sold by the aforementioned proprietors to a company being run by a close aide of Lalu. Later, this company was taken over by family members of Lalu, after which the land reached the hands of his family members at a nominal/unreasonable cost.