ED questions Tejashwi for over eight hours in 'land-for-jobs' scam

Patna: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday questioned RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav for over eight hours in connection with the agency's money laundering probe into the alleged land-for-jobs scam, officials said.

Tejashwi, the former deputy chief minister of Bihar, arrived at the ED office here for questioning around 11.30 am and left the premises after 8 pm, sources said.

The investigating officer of the case recorded Yadav's statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.

His father and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad was questioned by the probe agency's sleuths for over nine hours on Monday in connection with the same case.

The central probe agency had on January 19 issued a fresh summons for questioning Prasad and Yadav.

Earlier in the day, RJD MP Manoj Jha asserted that the "BJP's top leadership is afraid of opposition parties", and it is targeting them by misusing central investigation agencies.

"The BJP is using the ED, CBI and I-T department against those it is afraid of... that is why it is trying to break (opposition parties) through these central agencies," he told PTI.

Shakti Singh, RJD's Member of the Legislative Council (MLC), claimed, "It is a known fact that Tejashwi Yadav was a minor at the time when the alleged scam took place. BJP leaders are ruffled as he had provided a large number of jobs to people in the previous 'Mahagathbandhan' government in Bihar." The RJD was a key constituent of the grand alliance.

Reacting to the RJD's allegations, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Samrat Choudhary told reporters, "When Lalu Prasad was the CM, he was involved in the fodder scam. When he was the Railway Minister, the land-for-jobs scam took place... the ED will certainly investigate the case." The land-for-jobs scam pertains to appointments in the Railways between 2004 and 2009 allegedly in return for land parcels.