Lalu Prasad, Rabri Devi appear before Delhi court in land-for-job scam case

File image: Lalu Prasad Yadav

RJD leader and former railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi and their daughter Misa Bharti appeared before a Delhi court on Wednesday in connection with a case related to the alleged land-for-job scam.

Yadav, 74, who underwent a kidney transplant recently and was in a wheel chair, reached the Rouse Avenue court around 10 am but proceedings were delayed.

The family appeared before Special Judge Geetanjali Goel around 11 am.

The case relates to alleged appointments made in the railways in return for land parcels gifted or sold to Prasad's family when he was the minister of railways between 2004 and 2009.

The CBI, in its charge sheet, alleged that irregular appointments were made in the railways, violating the laid down norms and procedures of Indian Railways for recruitment.

It alleged that as a quid pro quo, the candidates directly or through their immediate relatives and family members sold land to the family members of RJD chief Prasad, then railway minister, at highly discounted rates up to one-fifth of the prevailing market rates.

Special judge Goel had on February 27 issued summons to the accused persons, including Prasad's daughter Misa Bharti, and directed them to appear before the court on March 15.