CBI questions Tejashwi for seven hours in IRCTC case

New Delhi, Oct 6 (IANS) The CBI questioned RJD chief Lalu Prasad's son Tejashwi Yadav for over seven hours on Friday in connection with its ongoing probe into alleged irregularities in the 2006 IRCTC hotels maintenance contract case.

Tejashwi Yadav, a former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, reached the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) headquarters on Lodi Road in south Delhi around 11.15 a.m. and was questioned till 6.30 p.m.

"Tejashwi was questioned for over seven hours by CBI investigators. He faced more than 100 questions in connection with the IRCTC case," CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal told IANS.

Dayal further said that the CBI may call Tejashwi Yadav again for another round of questioning but the next date was yet to be decided.

The questioning comes a day after Lalu Prasad was questioned for seven hours in connection with the case.

The CBI had on September 26 issued fresh summons -- the third in a month -- to the Rashtriya Janata Dal chief and his son in the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp (IRCTC) contract case.

Tejashwi Yadav appeared before the CBI after skipping two earlier summons.

The CBI on July 5 filed a corruption case against Lalu Prasad, his wife Rabri Devi and Tejashwi Yadav for alleged irregularities in the allotment of contracts for IRCTC hotels in Ranchi and Puri in 2006 to a private firm when the RJD chief was the Railways Minister.

The contracts were given to Sujata Hotels, a company owned by Vijay and Vinay Kochhar -- both named in the CBI FIR as accused -- in lieu of bribe in the form of a three-acre commercial plot at a prime location in Bihar's Patna district, the CBI said.

A preliminary CBI inquiry found that the said land was sold by the Kochhars to Delight Marketing Company and payment was arranged through Ahluwalia Contractors and its promoter Bikramjeet Singh Ahluwalia, another accused person.

The ED has since questioned Ahluwalia.

Delight Marketing, which bought the property from the Kochhars, was later taken over by Rabri Devi and Tejashwi Yadav, alleges the CBI.

Sarla Gupta, wife of RJD chief's close associate and former Union Minister Prem Chand Gupta and a director of Delight Marketing, is a co-accused in the case, apart from then IRCTC Managing Director P.K. Goel.

The ED had on July 27 registered a separate case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act following the CBI FIR and was probing Lalu Prasad and others for alleged transfer of money through shell companies.

The ED has summoned Rabri Devi to appear before it next week.