IRCTC case: Rabri, Tejashwi get bail; production warrant against Lalu

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Yadav is lodged in a Ranchi jail in connection with a fodder scam

A New Delhi court on Friday issued a production warrant against former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and granted bail to his wife Rabri Devi, son Tejashwi Yadav and some others in connection with a 2006 IRCTC hotels maintenance contract case.

The case relates to alleged irregularities in the allotment of contracts of two IRCTC hotels in Ranchi and Puri to a private firm involving a bribe in the form of a three-acre commercial plot at a prime location in Patna district.

Special Judge Arvind Kumar asked jail authority of Ranchi to present Lalu Prasad before his court on October 8.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal chief is lodged in a Ranchi jail in connection with a fodder scam.

The court asked former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi and former Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav to each furnish personal bonds of Rs 100,000 and a surety of the same amount.

They appeared in pursuance of summon issued against them.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in April filed the charge sheet in the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) hotels maintenance contract case against 12 people and two companies.

Among those named in the charge sheet were Bihar former Chief Minister Lalu Prasad, his wife and son, former Managing Director of IRCTC P K Goel, Sujata Hotels directors Vinay and Vijay Kochhar, Sarala Gupta -- wife of Prem Chand Gupta, RJD MP.

The CBI charge-sheet also named Additional Member of the Railway Board B K Agarwal, who was then Group General Manager (GGM) of the IRCTC.

The central probe agency also named former GGM of IRCTC V K Asthana, R K Gogia -- then GGM (company secretary) of IRCTC, Ramesh Saxena -- then IRCTC Director, and Sujata Hotels Pvt Ltd.