IRCTC hotel allotment case: ED attaches plot worth Rs 45 crore in Patna in connection with money laundering probe

New Delhi/Patna: The ED on Friday said it has attached a three-acre plot worth Rs 45 crore in the Bihar capital in connection with its money laundering probe in the IRCTC hotel allotment scam case involving RJD chief Lalu Prasad and his family. Agency sources said the land is allegedly in the name of the family members of Lalu Prasad and a mall was supposed to be constructed. The estimated market value of the plot is Rs 45 crore, they said. The property has been provisionally attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). [caption id=“attachment_4239063” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi. PTI[/caption] The central probe had last week questioned Lalu Prasad’s wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi in this case in Patna. It has earlier questioned Rabri Devi’s son Tejashwi Yadav, the former deputy chief minister of Bihar, twice in this case. In July, the agency registered a case against Lalu Prasad, his family members and others under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Just before this, the Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) registered a criminal first information report and conducted multiple searches on the properties of Lalu Prasad and others. The CBI FIR alleged that Lalu Prasad, during his tenure as the railway minister in UPA-I, handed over the maintenance of two Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation hotels to a company in 2004 after receiving a bribe in the form of a prime land in Patna through a ‘benami’ company owned by Sarla Gupta, wife of Prem Chand Gupta, a former Union minister. The ED registered the criminal case against his family members and others under the PMLA, based on this CBI FIR. The CBI has already recorded the statements of Tejashwi and Lalu Prasad in this case. The ED is investigating the alleged “proceeds of crime” generated by the accused, purportedly through shell companies,according to the 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 PK Goel. The CBI FIR was registered on 5 July in connection with favours allegedly extended to Sujata Hotels in awarding a contract for the upkeep of the hotels in Ranchi and Puri and receiving premium land as “quid pro quo”.