Rabri Devi skips Enforcement Directorate meet for 5th time
Rabri had informed the agency earlier about her ill-health and Chhath Pooja' as reasons for non-appearance.
New Delhi: Former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi on Friday skipped the deposition before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for the fifth consecutive time in a money laundering probe pertaining to the hotels-for-land scam.
Sources said, that she has now been summoned to appear on November 7 before the Investigating Officer (IO) of the case.
The agency had registered a case against RJD Chief and former railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, his family members and others under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) sometime back.
In July, the CBI had registered an FIR and conducted multiple searches on the properties former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad, and others.
Earlier this week, Ms Rabri’s son and former Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav had skipped appearing before the Enforcement Directorate and was summoned on October 31.
Ms Rabri had informed the agency earlier about her ill-health and ‘Chhath Pooja’ as reasons for non-appearance.
The CBI in its FIR alleged that Mr Lalu during his tenure as the railway minister handed over the maintenance of two Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) hotels to a company in 2004 after receiving a bribe in the form of a prime plot of land in Patna through a ‘benami’ company owned by Sarla Gupta.
The ED had registered a criminal case against his family members and others under the PMLA. The CBI also recently recorded the statements of Mr Tejashwi and Mr Lalu in this case. The ED is investigating the alleged “proceeds of crime” generated by the accused, purportedly through shell companies, according to officials. Others named in the CBI FIR include Vijay Kochhar, Vinay Kochhar (both directors of Sujata Hotels), Delight Marketing company, now known as Lara Projects, and the then IRCTC managing director P.K. Goel.