New Delhi: The Delhi High Court is expected to take up on Monday former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav’s petition challenging a trial court decision ordering the framing of cheating and corruption charges against him and his family members in the IRCTC hotel scam case.
The matter is listed to come up before Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma.
In his petition, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief claimed that there were insufficient grounds to proceed against the accused for offences relating to corruption, criminal conspiracy and cheating.
His criminal revision petition assailed the Rouse Avenue Court’s decision to order the framing of criminal charges against him and other family members.
In an order passed on October 13, 2025, Special Judge (PC Act) Vishal Gogne of the Rouse Avenue Courts paved the way for the trial of Lalu Prasad Yadav, his son Tejashwi Yadav, his wife Rabri Devi, and other accused under Sections 420 (cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as well as the Prevention of Corruption Act, after they pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The special court had reserved its order on May 29 after hearing detailed arguments on framing of charges against Lalu Prasad, his family members, Prem Gupta, Sarla Gupta and Railway officials Rakesh Saksena and P.K. Goyal.
According to the CBI, the alleged scam occurred between 2004 and 2009 when Lalu Prasad served as Union Railway Minister.
It is alleged that two Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) hotels were leased out to a private firm in violation of norms, and that prime land in Patna was allegedly transferred to Lalu Prasad’s family members and a benami company in return.
The two hotels were given on lease without following the norms. One of the hotels was allotted to Sarla Gupta, wife of Prem Gupta, a close associate of the RJD chief and a Rajya Sabha MP at that time.
As per the prosecution, the RJD leader got three acres of prime land through a benami company.
Claiming that there were no irregularities on his part, Lalu Prasad said that the tenders were awarded fairly and sought a discharge from the case.
(IANS)
