IRCTC case against Lalu: CBI given time to get sanction to prosecute official

A Delhi court today granted one month to the CBI to get sanction from authorities concerned to prosecute an accused official in a graft case against former railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife Rabri Devi and son Tejashwi Yadav relating to allotment of IRCTC hotels.

Special Judge Arvind Kumar directed the CBI to get the required nod till June 1 to prosecute Additional Member of Railway Board, V K Aggarwal, who was then the group general manager of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC).

"Sr public prosecutor (advocate V K Ojha) for the CBI submits that sanction qua accused V K Aggaral is still pending before the competent authority and they are pursuing the matter and most probably they would get sanction in the month of July, 2018," the court noted, while putting up the matter for further hearing on July 27.

The court also noted some discrepancies in the list of documents filed by the investigating officer (IO) and took on record his submission that he will be rectifying the defects in the list or he will file a fresh list by the next date of hearing.

The agency had on April 16 filed a charge sheet against two companies and 12 people in the case.

Besides Yadav and his family members, former union minister Prem Chand Gupta, his wife Sarla Gupta, Agarwal, then Managing Director of IRCTC P K Goyal and then IRCTC Director Rakesh Saxena, were also named in the charge sheet.

Others named in the charge sheet include the then group general managers of IRCTC V K Asthana and R K Goyal, Vijay Kochhar, Vinay Kochhar, both directors of Sujata Hotels and owners of Chanakya Hotel.

Delight marketing company, now known as Lara Projects, and Sujata Hotels Private Limited have also been named as accused companies in the charge sheet.

The CBI had registered a case in July last year and carried out searches at 12 locations in Patna, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar and Gurugram in connection with the case. The charges in the case include criminal conspiracy (120-B), cheating (420) under IPC and corruption, the CBI had said.