A Delhi court on Monday (October 13, 2025) framed charges against Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad, former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi and her son and state opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav in the alleged IRCTC scam case. With this, preparations for the case against him have started before the elections in Bihar. Talking about IRCTC scam, its story starts in the year 2005-06. According to CBI, during his tenure as Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad leased 2 IRCTC hotels (Ranchi, Puri) to the Kochhar brothers in 2005-06. In return, he took 3 acres of land in Patna. On July 7, 2017, CBI had lodged an FIR against 5 people including Lalu. In this connection, about 12 locations were raided. Chargesheet filed against Lalu-Rabri and Tejashwi on 16 April 2018
It is alleged in the FIR that the day Kochhar made this deal in favor of DMCL, the Railway Board informed IRCTC about its decision to hand over the BNR Hotel to him. Additional Director of CBI, Rakesh Asthana had told that when Lalu Yadav was the Railway Minister, the Railways’ BNR hotels located in Puri and Ranchi were transferred to IRCTC, there was a plan to give them on lease for maintenance and improvement. The tender for this was given to Vinay Kochhar’s company M/s Sujata Hotel. The tender process was manipulated. This tender process was completed by the then MD of IRCTC, PK Goyal.
sold land in lieu of tender
On February 25, 2005, in lieu of the tender, Kochhar sold 3 acres of land located on Bailey Road, Patna to Sarla Gupta’s company M/s Delight Marketing Company Limited (DMCL) for Rs 1.47 crore, whereas its market price was Rs 1.93 crore. Calling it agricultural land, it was sold at much less than the circle rate and there were irregularities in the stamp duty. Between 2010 and 2014, this benami property was transferred to Lalu’s family company Lara Projects for only Rs 65 lakh, whereas its value under circle rate was around Rs 32 crore and the market price was Rs 94 crore.
Also read: Big update in Land for Job case! Court postpones decision against Lalu, Tejashwi and Rabri Devi