Land-for-jobs 'scam': Tejashwi unlikely to appear for CBI questioning on March 11

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav is unlikely to appear before the CBI for questioning on Saturday in the alleged landforjobs scam and has sought a fresh date citing personal reasons officials saidThe federal agency summoned RJD leader Yadav for questioning on Saturday after he had skipped the previous date on March 4 they saidHe has again sought a fresh date citing personal reasons they saidThe Central Bureau of Investigation CBI recently questioned RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi former chief ministers of Bihar in Delhi and Patna respectivelyThe case pertains to people allegedly given employment in the railways in return for land parcels gifted or sold at cheap rates to the Yadav family and its associates the officials saidAfter the recent questioning of his parents Tejashwi Yadav had alleged that investigation agencies were acting against political opponents of the ruling BJP at the CentreIt is an open secret that probe agencies are acting against political opponents of the BJP and helping those who agree to align with that party the Rashtriya Janata Dal RJD leader had told reporters outside the Bihar assembly on MondayYadav then said that Prasad as the railway minister had no powers to give employment in exchange for favours He got support from the Congress and the AAP which targeted the central government alleging that the ruling BJP wanted to suppress the voice of the OppositionBihar Chief Minister and JDU leader Nitish Kumar on Saturday hinted that he agreed with the contention of ally RJD that the recent crackdown on its president Lalu Prasad and his family members by the CBI and ED was politically motivatedAlso read Govt indulging in politics of suppressing unyielding voices of Oppn says Priyanka as CBI summons TejashwiThe CBI has filed a charge sheet in the landforjobs case against Prasad Rabri Devi and 14 others under charges of criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and all the accused have been summoned on March 15 by a special court officials said The allegations have been denied by members of the Yadav family The officials said the fresh round of questioning is taking place as part of further investigation on the basis of fresh inputs gathered by it during its ongoing probeThe CBI has alleged that during Lalu Prasads tenure as the railway minister in the UPA government from 2004 to 2009 favourite candidates were appointed in the railways in violation of norms and proceduresNo advertisement or public notice was issued for appointment but some residents of Patna were appointed as substitutes in different zonal railways located in Mumbai Jabalpur Kolkata Jaipur and Hazipur the CBI has allegedAs a quid pro quo the candidates directly or through their immediate family members allegedly sold land to the family members of Prasad at highly discounted rates up to onefourth to onefifth of the prevailing market ratesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever