New Delhi, 29 August (H.S.):

The Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi on Saturday once again deferred its decision on framing charges against the accused in the money-laundering case linked to the alleged railway tender scam. The court will now pronounce its decision on September 7.

The court had earlier deferred the decision on August 14, July 31, July 16, June 9, May 22 and May 6. It had reserved its order on the framing of charges on February 13.

On January 28, 2019, the court had granted regular bail to Lalu Prasad Yadav, Rabri Devi and Tejashwi Yadav in the case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The court granted them bail on personal bonds of Rs 1 lakh each. Earlier, on January 19, 2019, the court had granted regular bail to Lalu Prasad Yadav in the case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

On October 13, 2025, the court had ordered the framing of charges against Lalu Prasad Yadav, Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav and other accused in the CBI case related to the alleged railway tender scam.

The court had taken cognisance of the chargesheet filed by the ED on September 17, 2018. A total of 16 individuals and entities have been named as accused in the case. Those named by the ED include Lalu Prasad Yadav, Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav, M/s Lara Project LLP, Sarla Gupta, Premchand Gupta, Gaurav Gupta, Nathmal Kakrania, Rahul Yadav, Vijay Tripathi, Devki Nandan Tulsiyan, M/s Sujata Hotel, Vinay Kochar, Vijay Kochar, Rajiv Kumar Relan and M/s Abhishek Finance Private Limited.

Lalu Prasad Yadav has been accused of transferring two railway hotels to the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) while serving as Railway Minister and subsequently inviting tenders for their maintenance and operation.

The two hotels, located in Ranchi and Puri, were allegedly awarded to Sujata Hotel, a company associated with the Kochar brothers.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar