IRCTC Scam: TROUBLE for Tejashwi Yadav, CBI takes BIG STEP before Oath taking ceremony in Bihar

There is a cabinet expansion of Nitish Kumar government in Bihar today, in which Tejashwi Yadav is the Deputy Chief Minister. On one hand, the stage is being prepared for the oath of ministers in Patna, while the CBI has made preparations to increase the problems of RJD. CBI wants the trial in the IRCTC hotel scam to be conducted expeditiously. In this case, CBI has made Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Rabri Devi as accused in its charge sheet. Apart from this, the names of 11 other people have also been registered as accused in this scam. The agency had filed the chargesheet in the Special CBI Court 4 years ago, but till now the debate on framing of charges in this case has not even started. 

An accused in this case had challenged the action of the CBI by filing a petition in the Delhi High Court in February 2019. He had said that the agency did not take the approval of the government before including his name in the case. It was necessary to do so because he was a government employee when the crime took place. On this basis, there was also a challenge to take cognizance of the charge sheet by the CBI court. Hearing his application, the Delhi High Court had exempted Vinod Kumar Asthana from appearing in the trial court. After this, two other accused who were government employees had also filed a similar application. Due to this the trial was delayed and till now the arguments on the allegations in this case had not started. 

According to Media reports, the CBI had filed an application in the Delhi High Court last week and sought a decision on Asthana's petition. Apart from this, the CBI had also said that it can put a condition that charges will be framed only according to the decision on Asthana's application. But permission should be given to start the debate on the allegations now. The CBI had filed a case against the Lalu Yadav family and other accused in July 2017. The agency had filed a chargesheet in April 2018 after a year-long investigation. 

Actually this case dates back to 2004, when Lalu Prasad Yadav was the Railway Minister in the UPA government. In this case Lalu Prasad Yadav, Tejashwi and Rabri Devi are accused. It is said that these people changed the rules of tender and allotment of IRCTC hotels and the whole thing was done through wrong process. According to the CBI, Lalu Prasad Yadav had met the owners of Chanakya and Suraj hotels in Patna through IRCTC officials. During this meeting, people from the company associated with Lalu and Rabri were also involved.