Charges framed against Lalu, Tejashwi weeks before polls

A Delhi court on Monday framed charges of corruption, conspiracy and cheating against Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad, his wife and former chief minister Rabri Devi, and their son and leader of Opposition in the state, Tejashwi Yadav, in connection with the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) hotels case.

- Arnabjit Sur

The court described Lalu Prasad as the “fountainhead of a criminal conspiracy” who manipulated a railway tender in exchange for land and other favours.

The development comes as Bihar heads into a high-stakes assembly elections, to be held in two phases on November 6 and 11, with counting on November 14. The timing of the order, barely weeks before campaigning enters its final stretch, is likely to reverberate across Bihar’s political landscape and may set the tone of the state's campaign in the weeks ahead.

The RJD alleged it was a motivated investigation. “We have been saying this from the beginning that since the elections are coming, all this will happen,” Tejashwi said. The Bharatiya Janata Party accused the Opposition of shielding the corrupt.

"What Bihar are you going to build when this is your image?" former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad asked Tejashwi.

The case, investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation, centres on alleged irregularities in the leasing of two IRCTC hotelsthe BNR Hotels in Ranchi and Puri - to a private company, Sujata Hotels Pvt Ltd, owned by Vijay and Vinay Kochhar, during Lalu Prasad's tenure as Union railway minister. The agency alleges that the tender process was rigged to favour the Kochhars' firm in exchange for land and company shares transferred to Lalu Prasad's family at throwaway prices.