Former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Delhi for questioning in a money laundering case related to an alleged land-for-jobs scam. Rabri Devi, the wife of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, arrived at the ED office in central Delhi at around 11 am. She took a break for lunch for about an hour and resumed the questioning session in the afternoon.
The 68-year-old Rabri Devi’s statement was recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). In the same case, her children, including Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, and daughters Misa Bharti, Chanda Yadav, and Ragini Yadav have already been questioned by the ED over the past few months.
Earlier this year, the ED conducted raids at the premises of Chanda Yadav, Ragini Yadav, Hema Yadav, and former RJD MLA Abu Dojana in Patna, Phulwari Sharif, Delhi-NCR, Ranchi, and Mumbai. The agency claimed to have seized unaccounted cash worth ₹1 crore and detected proceeds of crime worth ₹600 crore during these searches.
The alleged scam dates back to the period when Lalu Prasad was the railway minister in the UPA-1 government. The money laundering case is based on a CBI FIR, which alleges that individuals were appointed to Group D positions in various zones of the Indian Railways between 2004 and 2009. It is further alleged that these individuals transferred their land to Lalu Prasad’s family members in exchange for the appointments. The CBI complaint claims that no advertisement or public notice was issued for these appointments, and individuals from Patna were appointed as substitutes in different zonal railways at discounted rates. Tejashwi Yadav has previously denied these allegations, stating that Lalu Prasad did not have the power to provide employment in exchange for favors.
