BJP following Congress’ footsteps, will meet same fate: Akhilesh

www.mangaloretoday.com

New Delhi, March 12, 2023: Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday (March 9, 2023) slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and said that it is following in the footsteps of the Congress in using probe agencies to carry out "political raids". Replying to a reporter’s question about the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) questioning Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav and his wife Rabri Devi and issuing summons to his son and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, Akhilesh said that the saffron party will meet the "same fate" as the Congress.

The Congress, when it was in power, used the Enforcement Directorate (ED), CBI, and Income Tax department to conduct raids on several political leaders in the country, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister told reporters.

Central probe agencies like the CBI, ED, and Income Tax were working at the BJP government’s behest, he added.

"The BJP is doing nothing new by following the same path. If Congress has been today razed to the ground, the BJP will meet the same fate," Yadav said. 

With Lalu Prasad and his family facing an ire over the alleged land-for-jobs scam, the ED on Saturday said it seized Rs one crore in "unaccounted cash" and detected proceeds of crime worth Rs 600 crore after raids against them in a related money laundering case. The agency said it is suspected that a huge amount of proceeds of crime was infused into purchasing a house in New Friends Colony in south Delhi that Prasad’s son Tejashwi was using as his residential property.

The house, which was among the locations raided on Friday when Yadav was staying there, was shown to have been acquired at a value of a mere Rs 4 lakh while the present market value is approximately Rs 150 crore, the agency claimed.

An investigation is underway to unearth more investments made on behalf of Prasad’s family and their associates in various sectors, including real estate, the ED said in a statement.

"Searches resulted in the recovery of unaccounted cash of Rs 1 crore, foreign currency including USD 1,900, 540 gms gold bullion and more than 1.5 kg of gold jewellery worth about Rs1.25 crore," the probe agency said

"Several other incriminating documents including various property documents, sale deeds, etc. Held in the names of family members (of Lalu Prasad) and benamidaars indicating illegal accretion of huge land bank and electronic devices," it said.

It said the raids resulted in the "detection of proceeds of crime amounting to about Rs 600 crore at this point of time which is in the form of immovable properties of Rs 350 crore and transactions of Rs 250 crore routed through various benamidaars".

Making a specific mention of Tejashwi Yadav, the ED said the property situated at D-1088, New Friends Colony in south Delhi is an independent 4-storied bungalow registered in the name of A B Exports Private Limited and is being used by Tejashwi Yadav as his residential premises.

This company has been called a "beneficiary firm" in this case and is "owned and controlled" by Tejashwi Yadav and his family, the ED said.

This house was shown to have been acquired at a value of a mere Rs 4 lakh while the present market value is approximately Rs 150 crore, the agency added.

Meanwhile, Tejashwi Yadav was called for questioning on Saturday by the CBI in the case but he did not appear and sought a fresh date citing personal reasons, officials said.

The agency had recently also quizzed Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi in the case.

It is alleged that people were given employment in the railways in return for land parcels gifted or sold at cheap rates to the Yadav family and its associates during Lalu’s tenure as the railway minister in the UPA government from 2004 to 2009.

No advertisement or public notice was issued for the appointment but some residents of Patna were appointed as substitutes in different zonal railways located in Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur, and Hazipur, the CBI has alleged.

As a quid pro quo, the candidates, directly or through their immediate family members, allegedly sold land to the family members of Prasad at highly discounted rates, up to one-fourth to one-fifth of the prevailing market rates.