A Delhi court framed money-laundering charges against RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi and Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav in the IRCTC hotels scam case, holding there was a strong suspicion of abuse of office, while discharging seven others.
New Delhi: A Delhi court on Thursday framed charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief and former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife and former Chief Minister Rabri Devi, and his son and Bihar Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav, in the money-laundering case arising out of the alleged IRCTC hotels scam [Directorate of Enforcement v. Lalu Prasad Yadav and Others].
Special Judge Vishal Gogne of the Rouse Avenue Courts passed the order, framing money-laundering charges against a total of nine persons and discharging seven others. The framing of charges is a preliminary stage that reflects the court’s prima facie view that there is sufficient material to put the accused on trial; it is not a finding of guilt, and the accused remain to be tried, with the presumption of innocence intact.
‘Strong suspicion of abuse of office’
Pronouncing the order, the court recorded a prima facie view that the material disclosed a strong suspicion of the abuse of office and the existence of proceeds of crime. It observed:
“There exists a strong suspicion of abuse of office and proceeds of crime in the hands of Rabri Devi and Tejashwi Yadav who continue to enjoy a tainted land in Patna, which was transferred to them at the behest of Lalu Prasad Yadav, during the years 2005 and 2014 when he was Union Railways Minister.”
The court indicated, on the prosecution’s case, that when Lalu Prasad Yadav was the Railways Minister, a tender had been manipulated by railway officials for the award of the lease of hotels at Ranchi and Puri, and that the directors of the entity concerned had transferred a parcel of land in Patna, Bihar, to a close associate of Lalu, one Sarla Gupta, who in turn transferred the shares to Rabri Devi at a fraction of their value. These are the allegations forming the basis of the charge, and they remain to be established at trial.
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Nine charged, seven discharged
The court framed money-laundering charges against nine of the persons arraigned and discharged seven others. The accused in the case are M/s Lara Projects LLP, Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Sarla Gupta, Prem Chand Gupta, Gaurav Gupta, Nath Mal Kakrania, Rahul Yadav, Vijay Tripathi, Deoki Nandan Tulshyan, M/s Sujata Hotels, Vinay Kochhar, Vijay Kochhar, Rajiv Kumar Relan and M/s Abhishek Finance Private Limited.
The court indicated that formal charges will be framed on October 3.
The parallel CBI corruption case
The money-laundering case is the ED’s counterpart to a corruption case investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arising from the same set of allegations. In October last year, the same judge had framed charges against Lalu Prasad Yadav, Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav and eleven others in the CBI’s corruption case relating to the alleged scam.
In that corruption case, charges were framed for cheating and criminal conspiracy, and the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act were also invoked against the accused. The court had directed that a charge be framed under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code (cheating) against Lalu Prasad Yadav, Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav, M/s LARA Projects LLP, Vijay Kochhar, Vinay Kochhar, Sarla Gupta and Prem Chand Gupta. The two cases, the CBI’s on corruption and the ED’s on money laundering, run in tandem, the latter premised on the proceeds said to have been generated by the alleged offences in the former.
What the framing of charges means
The stage the case has reached is worth understanding precisely, because the framing of charges is often mistaken for a determination of guilt. At the charge-framing stage, the court does not weigh the evidence as it would at trial; it examines whether the material on record, taken at face value, discloses a prima facie case grave enough to put the accused to trial. A “strong suspicion” is the recognised threshold: it is enough to frame a charge, but far short of the proof beyond reasonable doubt required for conviction. The discharge of seven of the arraigned persons on the same day illustrates the exercise, the court found the material sufficient to proceed against some and insufficient against others.
For the three principal accused, all senior political figures, the order means the money-laundering prosecution will now proceed to trial, in parallel with the CBI’s corruption case in which charges were framed last year. The offence under the PMLA is, in law, dependent on the existence of proceeds of crime traceable to a scheduled offence, which is why the ED’s case is bound up with the underlying corruption allegations the CBI is pursuing. Nothing has been finally decided; the allegations of abuse of office and of a manipulated tender remain untested, the accused are entitled to the presumption of innocence, and the formal framing of charges on October 3 will set the stage for the trial that follows.
Case Title: Directorate of Enforcement v. Lalu Prasad Yadav and Others (IRCTC scam, money-laundering case)
Court: Special Judge Vishal Gogne, Rouse Avenue Courts, New Delhi
Date of Order: September 10, 2026