Land-for-jobs case: Delhi HC grants bail to businessman Amit Katyal

The Delhi high court on Tuesday granted bail to businessman Amit Katyal under money laundering charges related to the land-for-jobs case.
“Bail granted,” a bench of justice Neena Bansal Krishna said while pronouncing the verdict.
Katyal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on November 11, 2023, under various provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The probe agency has alleged that Katyal had acquired land from several railway job aspirants on behalf of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief and former railway minister Lalu Prasad.
In its first chargesheet filed in January, ED named Lalu Prasad’s wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi and their daughters, Misa Bharti, and Hema Yadav, among the seven accused.
The federal agency, also named a “close associate” of the Yadav family Katyal, railway employee and alleged beneficiary Hridayanand Chaudhary, and two firms AK Infosystems Pvt Ltd and AB Exports Pvt Ltd, through their common director Shariqul Bari.
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ED’s case had stemmed from the case filed by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2022 under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act and Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the then railway minister Lalu Yadav and others for entering for entering into conspiracy for abusing official position to obtaining pecuniary benefits in the form of land parcels being transferred to his family members and companies thereof in return for appointment to the post of substitute (Group-’D’) under the various zones of the Indian Railways.