The CBI questioned Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad for over four hours in Delhi on Tuesday in a corruption case, prompting his daughter Rohini Acharya to allege harassment and threaten to “shake up the chair in Delhi”.
“Papa ko ye log tang kar rahe hain. Agar unke tang karne ke karan unhein zara bhi pareshani hogi toh Dilli ki kursi hila denge. Ab bardasht karne ki seema jawab de rahi hai (These people are harassing father. If he suffers even a little because of this, we shall shake up the chair in Delhi. The limit of tolerance is being crossed),” the Singapore-based Rohini tweeted.
“Papa is being harassed continuously. I will not forgive anybody if anything happens to him.... We shall remember everything. We should remember that time is very powerful.”
Lalu Prasad, 74, convicted of corruption in various fodder scam cases, is out on bail after serving part of his sentences. He is now staying in Delhi with his eldest daughter and Rajya Sabha member Misa Bharti.
The CBI questioned him twice on Tuesday, in the morning and afternoon, in connection with a land-forjobs case relating to his tenure as UPA railway minister (2004-09).
Rohini, the second of Lalu Prasad’s nine children, had donated one of her kidneys so that her father could undergo a transplant in Singapore last December. On Monday, the CBI had questioned Lalu Prasad’s wife Rabri Devi, also a former Bihar chief minister, in Patna in connection with the land-for jobs case.
A day earlier, Rabri’s younger son and Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi and eight other Opposition leaders had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi protesting the alleged misuse of central investigative agencies against the BJP’s political opponents.
Rohini had tweeted several times even before the CBI team arrived at Misa’s residence in Delhi, expressing fear that the BJP was plotting to imprison Lalu Prasad and Tejashwi.
“Spread the message among the people that the BJP is conspiring like the British rulers to imprison Lalu and Tejashwi,” Rohini said.
She asked people to “take a vow to perform ‘Holika Dahan’ (the burning of Holika) of the patron of a rapist like Ram Rahim and the cannibal of Godhra”.
Hema Yadav, another of Lalu Prasad’s daughters, is an accused in the land-for-jobs case along with Lalu Prasad, Rabri, Tejashwi and Misa as well as other named and unnamed people.
In its chargesheet of October 2022, the CBI has alleged that Lalu Prasad had as railway minister helped over 250 people from various states to illegally secure Group D jobs in different railway zones in lieu of money and land. These posts had not been advertised publicly for recruitment.
A CBI court in Delhi has summoned Lalu Prasad, Rabri and Misa to appear on March 15 in connection with the case.
