The CBI is taking a fresh look at the enquiry against RJD chief and former chief minister of Bihar Lalu Prasad Yadav, in a Railway projects allocation bribery case, investigation were stalled in 2021 due to lack of sufficient evidence

According to sources in the CBI the matter, which dates back to the time when Yadav held the Railways portfolio in the UPA-led government, is being re-looked. The CBI recently filed a chargsheet in October this year against the RJD chief, his wife Rabri Devi and 14 others in an alleged land-for-jobs scam during his tenure in the Railways.

The investigation into the matter which was still at the preliminary enquiry (PE) stage was terminated by CBI in the absence of any material evidence of substantive proof. The PE, initiated in 2018, was based on allegations that Lalu Prasad’s son Tejashwi, now the deputy chief minister of Bihar, and daughters Chanda and Ragini had bought a company AB Exports, allegedly a shell company, through which property deals worth crores were done.

Money, allegedly taken by Yadav as bribe, when he was minister of the Railways for allotment of projects in New Delhi and Bandra Railway stations were routed through AB Exports. However due to lack of evidence the investigations were stalled in around May 2021.

Sources said amidst in the recent chargesheet filed by CBI in October where the names of Prasad’s daughter Misa Bharti and a former general manager of the Railways also figure as accused in the charge sheet filed before a special CBI court recently, the CBI is taking a re relook into the stalled PE of the 2018 matter. 

The PE into the land-for-jobs scam case, was registered by the CBI on September 23, 2021 and was converted into an FIR on May 18. As per investigations individuals were allegedly appointed as substitutes in group D positions within three days of applying in “undue haste” by Railway officials and were later regularised when the “individuals themselves or their family members transferred their land”, according to the agency.

The transfers were made through deeds in the name of Rabri Devi and daughters Misa Bharti and Hema Yadav, it was alleged.

The CBI has alleged that land measuring about 1.05 lakh square feet in Patna was acquired by Prasad’s family members by making payments to the sellers in cash.

LUCKNOW:  In a big political move, the Congress party has extended invitation to several leaders, including Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, BSP supremo Mayawati and RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary and also former deputy CM of Uttar Pradesh, Dinesh Sharma to join the Uttar Pradesh leg of its ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra.ADVERTISEMENTAds by 

While all non-BJP opposition leaders have been invited to join the yatra, Dinesh Sharma has been invited as an educationist and former professor of Lucknow University. However, the political experts witness the Congress move as an attempt to unify the non-BJP parties through the Yatra ahead of the big battle of ballots due in 2024. Currently, Congress, which has reduced nearly to a non-entity in country’s politically most crucial state with just one MP from Congress chief Sonia Gandhi representing Rae Bareli in Lok Sabha — and two MLAs in state assembly, is struggling hard for its revival in UP.

Besides Sharma, Professor Ravikant, teaching Hindi in LU, has also been invited by the Congress party to join the yatra which is likely to enter UP from Loni border of Ghaziabad on January 3. The Yatra, led by former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, will cover three districts Ghaziabad, Baghpat and Shamli before entering Haryana.

Besides Ghaziabad, Rahul Gandhi would lead the yatra in Baghpat on January 4 and Shamli on January 5 when, in the evening, he would leave UP through Kairana in Shamli district to enter Sonipat in Haryana. Rahul Gandhi would cover total 100 km in UP during the yatra.

According to UP Congress spokesperson Ashok Singh, as the people are not allowed to raise their views in the present dispensation, Bharat Jodo Yatra is the only option to decipher people’s minds. 

Founder and promoter of the Videocon group Venugopal Dhoot was remanded in CBI custody by a special court in Mumbai, along with former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar, till 28 December in connection with irregularities in a loan disbursement case – amounting to over Rs 3000 crore – sanctioned by ICICI bank to the group between 2009 and 2011.  

Dhoot was produced in the special court after he was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday morning in Mumbai.

The arrest comes close to the arrests of former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar in the same case being probed by the CBI. He will be produced before a special CBI court.

The loan which was sanctioned to the Videocon Group at the time when Chanda Kochhar the chief of ICICI bank, was moved to the non-performing asset (NPA) category.

It caused losses to the tune of over Rs 1750 crores to the ICICI Bank, the CBI has alleged. Kochhar and her husband were arrested by the CBI last week, on Friday in connection with the case and were taken to Mumbai from Delhi by the CBI, where they were remanded to CBI custody till December 26.

While seeking Dhoot’s remand, the CBI also sought the remand extension of the Kochhar couple, stating that the three will be confronted and questioned together by the agency in presence of each other. All three persons were produced before the special court together.

The Kochhar couple was arrested by the CBI for “non-cooperation” with the agency during a questioning session on Friday, for which the duo was summoned to Delhi. Consistent incoherence in their deposition and non-cooperation prompted the agency to take them into custody on Friday, sources in the CBI said. The couple were remanded in CBI custody till Monday.

Seeking their remand to probe the matter further the CBI submitted before the court that the loan extended to the Videocon Group during Kochhar’s tenure had caused loss to the tune of Rs 1,730 crore to ICICI bank.

The agency alleged that when Chanda Kochhar took charge of ICICI bank, six loans were sanctioned to various companies of Videocon out of which at least two loans were sanctioned by committees where Chanda Kochhar was a member. In other instances, she influenced committees also to sanction loans to Videocon group, CBI said.

The CBI also alleged that in 2009, Rs 64 crore loan was given by the Videocon group to Nupower, which is Deepak Kochhar’s firm. The agency also informed the court that it is also probing the transaction by which a flat in Mumbai, valued around Rs 5.25 crore in 1996, was transferred to the family trust of Kochhars in 2016 at a throwaway price way less than a crore.

According to the case registered in Mumbai by the CBI Kochhar had allegedly favoured Videocon Group a multi-business entity, known for its electronic products, by allowing “deviations” in the bank’s lending policies. She was charged with criminal conspiracy and cheating by the agency for alleged irregularities in a loan extended to the Videocon Group in 2012 that turned into a non-performing asset for the ICICI Bank. The transaction however benefitted the Kochhars the CBI had alleged.

The ICICI in 2019, declared that it will classify Kochhar’s departure as “termination for cause” because she had broken the bank’s code of conduct and internal standards.

The case was out of news for a while but recently came under the spotlight following questioning of Venugopal Dhoot, the ex-chief of Videocon group, in November by the Directorate of Enforcement. Dhoot was quizzed by the agency in connection with the loan extended to the group by ICICI during Kochhar’s tenure.  The ED is investigating the money laundering angle in connection with the matter 

HYDERABAD: Veteran actor Chalapathi Rao passed away at his Hyderabad residence after suffering a cardiac arrest in the wee hours of Sunday. The actor was said to be battling age-related complications over the last two years. He was 78.

Born on May 8, 1944, Chalapathi Rao made his acting debut with Goodachari 116 in 1966 and went on to have a flourishing career. He acted in more than 1,200 films in a career spanning over 50 years, leaving a lasting mark as a villain and in supporting roles.

Some of his most prominent films include Annadammula, Anubandham (1975), Manushulanta Okkate (1976), Yamagola (1977), Daana Veera Soora Karna (1977), Yuga Purushudu (1978), Driver Ramudu (1979), Vetagadu (1979), Gandeevam (1994), Bobbili Simham (1994), Arundhati (2009), Kick (2009), Ek Niranjan (2009), Legend (2014), Sathamanam Bhavati (2017), and Vinaya Vidheya Rama (2019). This year, he was seen in Bangarraju, and his final film appearance was in a film titled Oh Manishi Neevevaru. Chalapathi Rao also produced films such as Ardharathri Hatyalu (1985), Kaliyuga Krishnudu (1986), and Kadapa Reddamma (1990), to name a few. He is survived by two daughters and a son. His son Ravi Babu is a well-known actor and director.

T-wood will miss ‘Babai’

Chalapathi Rao was synonymous with cruel, ferocious villains, and he did such an excellent job on-screen that he once joked that women would stay wary of him in real life. After all, he committed over 90 on-screen rapes as a villain. So the fear is understandable. That doesn’t mean he restricted himself to negative roles. This generation of moviegoers has seen him in many supporting roles alongside contemporary actors such as NTR Jr, Mahesh Babu, and Allu Arjun.

Some of his most popular performances in the 2000s came from three films directed by VV Vinayak. As a caring guardian to Jr NTR, he was dearly called ‘Babai.’In the past decade, he mostly appeared in supporting roles, often playing a family member of the protagonist. There are stories about his tiffs with co-stars; some of them went to physical altercations too. Yet, his place in Telugu cinema remained unscathed because he was considered a family member off-screen.

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao expressed condolences on the demise of the noted film actor. He said that Chalapathi Rao, who acted in hundreds of movies in diversified roles, made his own mark on the silver screen. The CM said that the passing away of Chalapathi Rao, who worked with three generations of actors as an actor and producer, is a big loss to the film industry. He conveyed his deepest condolences to the bereaved family members.