‘Appears Railways Ministry was being used as personal fiefdom’: Delhi court frames charges against Lalu and family

INDIA

‘Appears Railways Ministry was being used as personal fiefdom’: Delhi court frames charges against Lalu and family | Delhi News

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Rachit Sahai

January 9, 2026

A Delhi court Friday framed charges against Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo and former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife and former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi, and children Tejashwi Yadav, Tej Pratap Yadav, and Misa Bharti in the alleged land-for-jobs scam corruption case being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

“There existed an overarching conspiracy by Lalu Yadav and his family by using public employment as a bargaining chip to obtain properties,” said Special Judge Vishal Gogne of Rouse Avenue Court, while passing an order on framing of charges.

“The chargesheets strongly show that close associates of Lalu Yadav probably facilitated, as co-conspirators, the transfer of land in lieu of jobs in the railways and placements across the country,” he added.

“It appears that the Ministry of Railways was used as a personal fiefdom by Lalu Yadav,” the Judge said.

As many as 103 people had been named as accused in the case by the CBI. Of these, five have passed away.

Of the remaining 98, 52 were discharged by Judge Gogne. These included all Group-D railway substitutes who hadn’t parted with their land and railway officials allegedly involved in these particular cases.

Charges were framed against the remaining accused.

A look at the case

The CBI’s case pertains to the alleged transfer of land at cheap rates to Lalu Yadav and his family in return for appointments made in Group-D substitute jobs in the Central Railway between 2004 and 2009. At that time, Lalu was the Railways minister.

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In its chargesheet filed in the case, the CBI had claimed there were several discrepancies in documents furnished by those who were given jobs in exchange for land in this alleged scam.

The agency alleged that some candidates had sequential roll numbers on their caste and residence certificates, implying that the accused had obtained these certificates “altogether and for a common purpose”.

According to the CBI, Lalu Yadav had allegedly influenced Railway officers and got owners of the land parcels “wherein he had had interest”, and family members of owners, appointed.

The agency had also claimed Lalu and his family acquired over 1 lakh square feet of land for only Rs 26 lakh, as against the circle rate of over Rs 4.39 crore.

Nirbhay Thakur is a Senior Correspondent with The Indian Express who primarily covers district courts in Delhi and has reported on the trials of many high-profile cases since 2023.
Professional Background
Education: Nirbhay is an economics graduate from Delhi University.
Beats: His reporting spans the trial courts, and he occasionally interviews ambassadors and has a keen interest in doing data stories.
Specializations: He has a specific interest in data stories related to courts.
Core Strength: Nirbhay is known for tracking long-running legal sagas and providing meticulous updates on high-profile criminal trials.
Recent notable articles
In 2025, he has written long form articles and two investigations. Along with breaking many court stories, he has also done various exclusive stories.
1) A long form on Surender Koli, accused in the Nithari serial killings of 2006. He was acquitted after spending 2 decades in jail. was a branded man. Deemed the “cannibal” who allegedly lured children to his employer’s house in Noida, murdered them, and “ate their flesh” – his actions cited were cited as evidence of human depravity at its worst. However, the SC acquitted him finding various lapses in the investigation. The Indian Express spoke to his lawyers and traced the 2 decades journey.
2) For decades, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has been at the forefront of the Government’s national rankings, placed at No. 2 over the past two years alone. It has also been the crucible of campus activism, its protests often spilling into national debates, its student leaders going on to become the faces and voices of political parties of all hues and thoughts. The Indian Express looked at all court cases spanning over two decades and did an investigation.
3) Investigation on the 700 Delhi riots cases. The Indian Express found that in 17 of 93 acquittals (which amounted to 85% of the decided cases) in Delhi riots cases, courts red-flag ‘fabricated’ evidence and pulled up the police.
Signature Style
Nirbhay’s writing is characterized by its procedural depth. He excels at summarizing 400-page chargesheets and complex court orders into digestible news for the general public.
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