By Arun Srivastava
None can deny that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the storeroom of the best imaginative and fertile brains. Earlier the CBI sleuths had come out with the revelation that Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav owned the Gurugram mall constructed from the illegal money received from the job seekers. Their allegation did not stand the scrutiny with Tejashvi shooting off in a series of tweets; “The Urban Cubes mall belongs to White Land Corporation Ltd and a BJP MP has an investment in it. Krishna Kumar is the present owner of this mall. Moreover, Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar inaugurated that mall. Now, CBI is answerable to it. It should clarify the owner of the mall”.
After lying low for some time once again the CBI has come out with wild revelation that it is in possession of a hard disk that has a list of 1,458 candidates who allegedly gave their land to the Yadavs in return for jobs. According to the CBI the list was prepared by Lalu Yadav’s son Tejashwi Yadav. The CBI did not get the list during its earlier searches. It could lay its hands on the list during raids last month.
The CBI officials are quite ebullient at their big catch and believe that the land-for-jobs scam — which took place during Lalu’s tenure as Railway minister in the UPA-I government — could emerge as one of the biggest frauds. The efficiency and success quotient of the CBI is also manifest in its verifying only 16 cases, which incidentally have been proved correct. The agency is still investigating the other cases and names available on the hard disk and would be writing to the Indian railways to know more about these candidates.
Even before the CBI could accomplish the task, it has revealed that Lalu and his son Tejashvi may be arrested and prosecuted. Since the CBI has clinching evidences, as it claims, father and son must be arrested. But its action does not inspire. It simply endorses the apprehension that it was resorting to this tactics keeping an eye on 2024 Lok Sabha election, under the direction of its political bosses. Certain questions arise on its claim. If it has solid proof in 16 cases, even at this stage, why it did not arrest Lalu and Tejashvi? Why did it not move the court?
Its manner of leaking the information simply reinforces the belief that it was creating psychological pressure on them to part company with Nitish Kumar. They want them to leave the path of confrontation and submit to the dictates of Modi and Amit. But they are mistaken. The then top CBI officials who were investing the fodder scam had offered him to sort out his differences with the BJP leaders like L K Advani. But he refused to listen to their advice. His reluctance virtually ruined his political career. Advani took revenge of his arrest in Samastipur while on Rath yatra. Lalu, the individual, would have lost his political relevance and stature if he had succumbed to the BJP pressure..
One difference is quite perceptible. Though the CBI named Lalu Yadav as the accused, it has been harping on the name of Tejashvi. The agency was trying to send the message that his political career would be spoiled for ever. Naturally being father Lalu would get scared of the threat. But it does not appear to be happening. Both father and son are ready to face the judiciary and expose the machinations of the CBI. In the wake of CBI placing Tejashvi’s name in the public domain as the owner of the Gurugram mall, Tejashvi had alleged that BJP was using federal agencies to suppress opposition parties saying, “After losing the power in Bihar, the BJP has despatched the three ‘Jamai’ to destroy my image. This is a completely false accusation that smells of a plan to frame me.”
He also said; “During the discussion before the vote of trust, I said in the Assembly that the BJP is scared of the 2024 Lok Sabha election. We will win 40 seats. Hence, it has forwarded three Jamais – ED, CBI, and Income Tax – to defame my image. BJP, RSS and some media organisations have initiated a campaign against me to defame my image and disturb the vote of trust in the Agencies.”
CBI’s threat to arrest Lalu is aimed at terrorising the other opposition leaders. But how far this tactics would be helpful is yet to surface. With Nitish leaving Bihar on January 5, for Delhi on his mission to unite the opposition, the political challenges for the BJP and its leader Modi, will further gravitate for the worse.
So far the CBI has chargesheeted 16 people. Apart from Lalu, his wife Rabri Devi and daughter, the CBI has charged Sowmya Raghvan, former general manager, and Kamal Deep Mainrai, former chief personnel officer with the central railways. Seven candidates — Rajkumar Singh, Mithilesh Kumar, Ajay Kumar, , Dharmendra Kumar, Vikas Kumar and Abhishek Kumar — have been charged as well. Four other individuals — Ravindra Rai, Kiran Devi, Akhileshwar Singh and Ramashish Singh — have been named in the chargesheet, officials said.
One thing is really interesting to notice and it is the news of probable arrest of Lalu and Tejashvi are being put in open by the TV channels and newspapers owing complete loyalty to Modi. This is being seen as a devious design of the CBI and the media.
On May 18, 2022, CBI filed a new case of corruption against Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife Rabri Devi, and his daughters Misa Bharti and Hema Yadav, accusing them of obtaining land plots as bribes from some people who were recruited in the Railways. The CBI also named 12 others in this case who were given jobs in the railway zones of Mumbai, Jabalpur, Kolkata, Jaipur, and Hajipur.
There is no denying that it is a blatantly calculated targeting. The CBI launched raids at several premises linked to leaders of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), hours before the party’s coalition with the Janata Dal (United) won the trust vote in the Bihar Assembly on Wednesday, 24 August. Surprisingly in earlier FIR only five sale deeds were mentioned but now the CBI has come across 200 sale deeds. (IPA Service)
