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YB WEB DESK. Dated: 1/19/2022 12:42:29 PM

Plea in SC seeks speeding up hearing in IRCTC scam case in which Lalu Yadav, family are accused

New Delhi, Jan 18 A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court against the delay in the hearing in the IRCTC scam case in which 12 people including RJD chief Lalu Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav, Rabri Yadav, former minister Premchand Gupta, his wife Sarla Gupta and 2 companies are accused. Ravi Bhushan, the petitioner, alleged that the pace of hearing is very slow in the case. Despite the chargesheet being filed, the case is not being heard properly, the petitioner said. Apart from this, the petitioner has referred to the order of the Supreme Court to expedite the hearing of the case in which criminal cases registered against MPs and MLAs have been ordered to be completed by the trial court within a year. In fact, the cases registered by CBI and ED are being heard separately in Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi. In July 2017, the CBI registered a case and carried out searches at 12 locations in Patna, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar and Gurgaon in connection with the case. The charges in the case include criminal conspiracy, cheating and corruption, CBI had said in its chargesheet. The cases were related to alleged irregularities in granting the operational contract of two IRCTC hotels to a private firm during Lalu Yadav’s tenure as railway minister between 2004 and 2009. Between 2004 and 2014, a conspiracy was hatched in pursuance of which BNR hotels of the Indian Railways, located in Puri and Ranchi, were first transferred to IRCTC and later, for its operations, maintenance and upkeep, given on lease to Sujata Hotels Private Limited, which is based in Patna, Bihar, the chargesheet mentioned. Based on the CBI investigation in the alleged scam, the ED also lodged a money laundering case against Lalu Prasad Yadav, Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav and others.