Patna: The Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi on Saturday deferred the formal framing of charges against former railway minister Lalu Prasad, his wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi, and their son Tejashwi Prasad Yadav in the IRCTC hotel-for-land money laundering case till Oct 30.The prominent members of the Lalu-Rabri family, along with other co-accused, appeared personally before the court. Special judge (MP-MLA cases) Prashant Kumar presided over the matter and decided to defer the formal proceedings till the end of the month. The court also directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to take necessary instructions in light of the directions previously passed by the predecessor court.The developments follow a Sept 10 ruling by the predecessor court, which discharged seven of the 16 accused named by ED, while ordering the framing of charges against the remaining nine. The matter had initially been listed for formal framing of charges on Oct 3.The case stems from alleged irregularities in the grant of operational contracts for two IRCTC hotels to a private firm between 2004 and 2014. According to the ED chargesheet, a conspiracy was hatched to transfer the BNR hotels of Indian Railways, located in Puri and Ranchi, to IRCTC. Subsequently, their operations, maintenance and upkeep were leased to Patna-based Sujata Hotels Private Limited.The investigating agency alleged that the tender process was rigged and manipulated and conditions tweaked to favour Sujata Hotels. The chargesheet names directors Vijay Kochhar and Vinay Kochhar, alongside accused firms Delight Marketing Company Limited (now Lara Projects) and Sujata Hotels. ED claims that, as a quid pro quo, the Kochhars transferred prime land in Patna at undervalued rates to Delight Marketing, controlled by Lalu Prasad’s close associates, Prem Chand Gupta and Sarla Gupta. The shares were later transferred to Rabri Devi and Tejashwi at a pittance.
