‘Thenga mila hai’: Tejashwi Yadav scoffs at ED’s claim recovering ‘proceeds of crime’

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on Monday rubbished Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) claim that “proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 600 crore” were detected in raids last week in connection to the alleged land-for-jobs ‘scam’, reported PTI.

“Thenga mila hai”, scoffed Yadav using Hindi slang to repudiate the ED’s claim.

On Saturday, the ED had said conducted searches across 24 locations in the Railways land-for-jobs “scam” which led to the recovery of “unaccounted cash” of Rs one crore, and detection of “proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 600 crore” after it raided RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s family in a money laundering case. The ED had launched its raids on Friday.

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The ED case, filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in 2016, stems from a CBI probe into allegations that people were given employment in the Railways – when Lalu was the Railway Minister during the Congress-led UPA-I government from 2004-2009 – in return for land parcels gifted or sold at nominal rates to the Yadav family and associates.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) said ED officials left his Delhi house only after getting “nod from above”.

“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)”, alleged the Deputy CM.

Taking a jibe at Union Minister Amit Shah, who he says is “fond of explaining chronology of events”, the RJD leader explained that the central agency’s action against him and his family started in 2017 when there were allegations of Rs 8,000 crore. He referred to the lands for hotels case.

Tejashwi said that nothing had come out of the case, and on the day the party was able to prove majority on the floor of the House, raids were conducted on leaders of the party.

The RJD leader reiterated that central probe agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Income Tax Department were acting as per the “script” of the BJP.

“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”, alleged the Bihar Deputy CM.

Further, he alleged that during the 2015 Bihar Assembly elections, huge amount of unaccounted cash was recovered from the BJP minister Giriraj Singh’s residence.

“No agency has ever probed the matter. Ditto for the recovery of Rs eight crore recently from a BJP leader in Karnataka”,” he said.