Land for jobs scam: Tejashwi Yadav to appear before CBI on March 25 for questioning after agency tells Delhi High Court no arrest this month

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on Thursday told the Delhi High Court that he will appear before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) at its headquarters in Delhi on March 25 for questioning in connection with the with the alleged land-for-jobs scam..Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma recorded the statement and said that the CBI will not arrest Yadav this month.The Court was hearing a plea by Yadav challenging the summons issued by the CBI asking him to appear for questioning in connection with the scam..During the hearing, Senior Advocate Maninder Singh appearing for Yadav underlined that the budget session of the Bihar assembly was going on. He also stated that his pregnant wife suffered due to the raids by the CBI..The Court then suggested that the CBI call Yadav on April 5, after the budget session is over.Advocate DP Singh for CBI informed the Court that the chargesheet was ready and that Yadav could appear on any Saturday. Addressing Yadav's apprehension about being arrested, he assured the Court that Yadav will not be arrested..The CBI has, till now, issued three notices to Yadav. However, he is yet to appear for questioning.The notices are dated February 28, March 4 and March 11..The case pertains to alleged appointments made in the Railways in exchange for land transferred to Lalu Prasad's family when he was the Union Railway Minister from 2004 to 2009.CBI's case is that the appointments made in the railways were not in consonance with the standards and guidelines established by the Indian Railways for hiring.Later, charge-sheet was filed by CBI on October 10, 2022, against 16 people including Prasad's wife Rabri Devi and their daughter..In his plea, Yadav has argued that the notices were issued in violation of Section 160 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) with mala fide intentions to harass him and that at the time of the alleged offence, he was a minor.The plea said that even though Yadav is a resident of Patna, he is being asked to appear for questioning in Delhi, which is contrary to the proviso to Section 160 of the CrPC.The plea has demanded that the three notices issued to him be quashed. In the interim, it has sought a stay on the notices.An alternate prayer has been made to question Yadav either at his residence or through video-conference..On Wednesday, Delhi's Rouse Avenue court had granted bail to Tejashwi Yadav's father and former union minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife Rabri Devi and daughter Misa Bharti in the same case.