On October 13, the Rouse Avenue Court is scheduled to issue an order regarding the draughting of charges in the IRCTC hotel corruption case.
All of the defendants, including former minister Prem Chand Gupta, son Tejaswi Yadav, wife Rabri Devi, and RJD chairman Lalu Prasad Yadav, have been ordered by the court to appear in person on the appointed day.The case concerns claims of conspiracy and corruption in the distribution of maintenance contracts for two IRCTC hotels during the 2004 2009 railway ministerial term of Lalu Prasad Yadav.
BNR Ranchi and BNR Puri are the hotels under question; their contracts were purportedly transferred to Sujata Hotel, a private company run by Vijay and Vinay Kochar.
Lalu Prasad Yadav allegedly acquired three acres of prime land through a benami business in exchange for the agreement, according to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
On July 7, 2017, the CBI filed a formal complaint against him and carried out raids at 12 places in Patna, New Delhi, Ranchi, and Gurgaon that were connected to him and his family.
The CBI's Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) contended that there was enough proof to charge all 14 defendants including Lalu Prasad Yadav, Rabri Devi, Tejaswi Yadav, and others—with conspiracy and corruption.
According to the CBI, the private company was given an unfair advantage in the distribution of maintenance contracts, which was against the law.
Senior advocate Maninder Singh, Lalu Prasad Yadav's attorney, said that there was insufficient evidence to support the accusations.
He maintained that his client and the other defendants should be released from the case because the tenders were given out legitimately.
After hearing thorough arguments from the defence and the CBI throughout several hearings this year, the court reserved the order on May 29.
On October 13, the matter will be scheduled for the charge order to be announced.
