President Murmu Clears Prosecution of Lalu Prasad Yadav in Railways Land-for-Jobs Money Laundering Case

New Delhi: In a major development in the ongoing railways land-for-jobs scam, President Droupadi Murmu has granted sanction to prosecute Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief and former Union Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav under section 197(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code (now Section 218 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023).

This sanction comes as part of a money laundering probe connected to the alleged scam, in which Lalu Prasad Yadav is accused of exploiting his ministerial position between 2004 and 2009 to offer railway jobs in exchange for land parcels. These plots were reportedly transferred as bribes and registered in the names of his family members.

A special PMLA court in Delhi has already taken cognisance of the chargesheets filed against Yadav and his close aides in the matter. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had initially filed an FIR in 2022, charging the RJD supremo with corruption and criminal misconduct.

According to CBI investigations, several Group D job aspirants were allegedly appointed in the Indian Railways in return for land deals that favored Yadav’s family. Following this, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) launched a parallel investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). In August 2024, the ED filed a detailed chargesheet not just against Lalu Prasad Yadav but also his son Tejashwi Yadav, and other family members.