Patna: The Bihar government on Thursday agreed to launch a probe against RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and his elder son Tej Pratap Yadav for their alleged involvement in a soil purchase scam worth Rs 90 lakh.
According to officials, the state chief secretary has been asked to order an investigation into the matter and submit a report to the chief minister’s office for further action. “The chief secretary has ordered a probe into the scam, and I want to clarify that earlier also in several other cases the state government never compromised on governance,” JD-U spokesperson Niraj Kumar told this newspaper.
The comment may not go down well with RJD leaders, especially Lalu Prasad Yadav, who met with chief minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday after BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi raised questions on violation of tender rules by the RJD leader’s elder son and forest and environment minister Tej Pratap Yadav.
Showing dissatisfaction over the probe orders, Mr Modi called the exercise “eyewash and a conspiracy to give clean chit to the RJD chief and his minister-son to save the grand secular alliance government”.
On Tuesday, Mr Modi had said Tej Pratap Yadav violated tender process and sold soil from the construction site of his shopping mall for renovation work at Patna zoo.
Tej Pratap and his two younger siblings, including deputy CM Tejaswi Yadav, own a large patch of land on the outskirts of Patna where a mall is being constructed by a private company owned by RJD MLA Abu Dojana.
According to zoo authorities, the soil contract was given to a private company owned by Virendra Yadav, but they failed to confirm where the soil was lifted from.
BJP sources said the company picked up the soil from the mall construction site and transported it to Patna zoo.
“Proper investigation into the case will also expose those who are trying to destroy evidence. They must remember that even during the fodder scam several officials had to go jail because they tried to hide documents related to the case,” Sushil Kumar Modi said.
