Lalu son skips ED summons 4th time

Former Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav continued to evade questioning by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as he skipped deposition before the ED on Friday for the fourth consecutive time in a money laundering probe in the railway hotels allotment corruption case. The agency has now summoned him on November 13 for questioning.

“The Central probe agency wants to question Tejashwi in connection with its investigation pertaining to the alleged irregularities committed in awarding tenders for development, maintenance and operation of Railways hotels at Ranchi and Puri to a private firm when his father Lalu Prasad Yadav was the railway minister,” sources said.

The agency registered the case against RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, his family members and others under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) sometime back. Tejashwi’s mother and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi has already been asked by the ED to appear before it on November 7 for questioning in the case. Tejashwi has been once grilled by the ED for over nine hours in connection with the case, but he later skipped four summonses to appear again. Rabri Devi, too, has skipped the ED summonses at least five times.

In July, the CBI had registered an FIR and conducted multiple searches at the premises of Lalu Prasad and others.