'My Sisters Were Made To...': Tejashwi Yadav Slams ED After Raids In Land For Jobs Case

New Delhi: Rubbishing the Enforcement Directorate's claim that "proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 600 crore" were seized in raids last week, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on Monday (March 13, 2023) said that his sisters and their in-laws were made to take off the jewelery they were wearing and shown as recovery. The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader also alleged that ED officials left his Delhi house only after getting a "nod from above".

"Thenga mila hai", Tejashwi used the Hindi slang to repudiate the ED's claim of huge recovery in the raids conducted in connection with the land for jobs scam pertaining to his septuagenarian father Lalu Prasad's tenure as Railway Minister during the UPA-1 government.

"Raids were also conducted on homes of my sisters who are not in politics and who got married after my father had ceased to be the Railway Minister. My sisters and their in-laws were made to take off the jewelery they were wearing. Photographs of the used ornaments were taken to buttress the ED's claim of having recovered a khazana (treasure)," he told reporters.

His reaction came after a CBI team grilled his mother and former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi at her residence in Patna a week ago and later questioned his father Lalu Prasad, who is currently recovering from a kidney transplant, in Delhi for several hours in connection with land for jobs scam.

Last week, the ED also carried out raids at the house of Prasad, where Tejashwi Yadav, the RJD supremo's younger son, was also present. 

Several other premises of Prasad's daughters and close aides were also raided in different parts of the country and the agency claimed to have seized proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 600 crore.

Searches resulted in the detection of Proceeds of Crime amounting to Rs 600 Crore approximately at this point in time: ED — ANI (@ANI) March 11, 2023

Meanwhile, Tejashwi squarely blamed the ruling BJP at the Center for the travails his family had to undergo and said, "Union Home Minister Amit Shah is very fond of explaining chronology of events. People can take note of the chronology of the central agency's action against me and my family."

"It started in 2017 during my first stint in power when these agencies spoke of Rs 8,000 crore", he said referring to the land for hotels scam, adding "nothing came of that case. After we were back in power, raids were conducted on leaders of our party on the very day we proved our majority on the floor of the assembly".

#WATCH | In 2017 in the same style they did this...people are saying, a lot of wealth has been recovered from me, 'thenga mila hai' I can challenge them...They first use to say Benami, why don't they say it now?...: Bihar Dy CM Tejaswi Yadav pic.twitter.com/DaTB4tJEOR — ANI (@ANI) March 13, 2023

He claimed "the Mahagathbandhan rally in Purnea last month which attracted huge crowds, in contrast with Shah's lackluster public meeting elsewhere in the state on the same day, has enervated the BJP. They seem to have lost the courage to take on Tejashwi Yadav politically."

"But we are not students of entire political science... We have the guts and the moral strength (jigar aur zameer) to take on the BJP," Tejashwi Yadav said and reiterated that central agencies like CBI, ED, and Income Tax Department were acting as per the "script" of the ruling party.

"Be it Shah or anyone else, the director of the farce must now change... The agencies have come to cut a sorry figure. They roar for a few days and thereafter mew like a cat", the Bihar Deputy CM said in an attempt at acerbic humor reminiscent of his legendary father.

"The raid at my house was over in 30 minutes. We thereafter served tea to the ED officials and inquired why they were not leaving. My wife needs care and is suffering from high blood pressure. They said they would leave only after they got a call from above. Clearly, the intent was to carry out propaganda (war) against me", Yadav alleged.

"In their politics of defaming opponents, the BJP seems to have made an Adani out of me", he quipped, adding "they already stand exposed in the matter relating to their allegations attacks on migrants in Tamil Nadu. I wonder if they have the moral strength to own up their mistake and apologize".

Recalling an incident during the 2015 assembly elections in Bihar, he said "huge amount of unaccounted cash was recovered from the house of Union minister Giriraj Singh. No agency has ever probed the matter. Ditto for the recovery of Rs eight crore recently from a BJP leader in Karnataka".