Breaking his silence over charges of land-and-shopping mall scam levelled against his two Minister-sons and wife Rabri Devi, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad on Sunday hit back at BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi and called him a “scamster.” Terming all allegations a ploy to defame his family, Mr. Prasad stressed that every deal was done as per rules.
Hours later, Mr. Sushil Modi claimed that Mr. Prasad did not deny the allegations and urged Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to order a thorough probe.
Addressing journalists, Mr. Prasad said, “ Ghotala-ghotala woh log karte hain jo khud ghotalebaaz hain (those who cry scam-scam are themselves scamsters.”
In possession of shares
He, however, admitted that the two-acre land on which Bihar’s biggest mall was being constructed belonged to the company “LaRa Projects LLP” in which Rabri Devi, his two sons Tej Pratap Yadav and Tejaswi Yadav have shares.
“The company has 50% ownership in the under-construction shopping mall being built by Meridian Constructions,” said Mr. Prasad. RJD MLA Sayed Abu Dojana is the owner of the Meridian Construction Company which is building Bihar’s biggest shopping mall at Saguna Mor, near Danapur in Patna. “When my family has a piece of land why can’t it make commercial use of it?,” asked Mr. Prasad.
He brushed aside charges of Mr. Modi that he took the two-acre land from a hotelier, Harsh Kochar, in lieu of the lease of two hotels of Railway in Puri and Ranchi given to Mr. Kochar in 2005 when he was Railway Minister.
Mr. Prasad said the land was purchased by Delight Marketing Company Pvt. Ltd. owned by his party MP and the then Union Minister Prem Gupta in 2005 but in 2008, the Gupta family transferred all the company shares to his family.
“Rabri Devi purchased the shares at a much higher price and later gifted them to her sons … the deal was struck as per law.” said Mr. Prasad.
