New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has dismissed the plea of former Bihar Chief Minister and accused, Lalu Prasad Yadav, seeking to quash the FIR in the CBI-related case concerning the Railway Tender Scam. A bench headed by Justice Ravinder Dudeja issued this order. Lalu Yadav had also challenged the trial court’s order framing charges against him. During the hearing, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing on behalf of Lalu Yadav, argued before the court that the CBI had been negligent in investigating two specific transactions in this case, which, he contended, did not fall within the ambit of the Prevention of Corruption Act. He submitted that both these transactions were executed in accordance with government policy; therefore, they could not be brought under the purview of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Court had ordered framing of charges: On October 13, 2025, the Rouse Avenue Court had framed charges against Lalu Yadav, Rabri Devi, and Tejashwi Yadav in this case. The court had ordered the framing of charges against the trio under Sections 428 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
During the hearing in the trial court, Advocate Maninder Singh, appearing for Lalu Yadav, had argued that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute the accused, thereby casting doubt on the validity of the sanction for prosecution. He pointed out that the CBI had initially stated that no sanction was required to prosecute Lalu Yadav; subsequently, however, the agency claimed to have obtained the necessary sanction. He argued that this shifting stance was not in accordance with the law.
Countering Lalu Yadav’s arguments, the CBI submitted that there was ample evidence to proceed with the prosecution against the accused. On January 28, 2019, the trial court had granted regular bail to Lalu Yadav, Rabri Devi, and Tejashwi Yadav in the case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The court granted bail upon the furnishing of a personal bond of ₹1 lakh each. On January 19, 2019, the court granted regular bail to Lalu Yadav in a case registered by the CBI.
Know what the ‘Land-for-Jobs’ scam is: On September 17, 2018, the court took cognizance of the chargesheet filed by the ED. In this case, 16 individuals—including Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi—have been named as accused. Those named as accused by the ED include Lalu Prasad, Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav, M/s Lara Projects LLP, Sarla Gupta, Prem Chand Gupta, Gaurav Gupta, Nath Mal Kakaraniya, Rahul Yadav, Vijay Tripathi, Devki Nandan Tulsyan, M/s Sujata Hotels, Vinay Kochhar, Vijay Kochhar, Rajiv Kumar Relan, and M/s Abhishek Finance Private Limited.
Lalu Yadav is alleged to have transferred two railway hotels to the IRCTC while serving as the Railway Minister, and subsequently issued tenders for the maintenance of these hotels. The allocation of the two hotels—located in Ranchi and Puri—was transferred to the Kochhar brothers’ company, Sujata Hotels.
