{"id":60737,"date":"2025-04-07T11:03:59","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T11:03:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/?p=60737"},"modified":"2025-04-07T11:03:59","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T11:03:59","slug":"supreme-court-declines-ed-plea-against-bail-to-lalu-aide-in-land-for-jobs-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/07\/supreme-court-declines-ed-plea-against-bail-to-lalu-aide-in-land-for-jobs-scam\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court Declines ED Plea Against Bail to Lalu Aide in Land-for-Jobs Scam"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Supreme Court<\/strong> on Monday dismissed a plea by the Enforcement Directorate (ED)<\/strong> challenging the bail granted to businessman Amit Katyal<\/strong>, a close associate of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav<\/strong>, in connection with the high-profile land-for-jobs scam<\/strong> in the Indian Railways.<\/p>\n

A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and Rajesh Bindal<\/strong> refused to interfere with the Delhi High Court\u2019s September 2023 order<\/strong> that granted bail to Katyal, questioning the ED’s selective approach.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udde3\ufe0f \u201cNo big fish. Main persons have not been arrested. Why go on after only small flies? Are you afraid of going after them?\u201d<\/em> \u2014 Supreme Court Bench<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\ud83d\udd0d High Court Criticised ED\u2019s \u2018Pick and Choose\u2019 Tactics<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Delhi High Court<\/strong>, while granting bail to Katyal on September 17, 2023, criticised the ED for adopting a \u201cpick and choose\u201d policy<\/strong>, noting that no other accused<\/strong> in the case had been arrested.<\/p>\n

Katyal was detained at the Indira Gandhi International Airport<\/strong>, despite cooperating with the investigation and responding to all summons.<\/p>\n

\n

\ud83d\udcdd Key Bail Conditions:<\/strong><\/h3>\n
    \n
  • \n

    Bail granted on personal bond of \u20b910 lakh<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    Two sureties<\/strong> of the same amount<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    Court noted Katyal\u2019s lesser role<\/strong> compared to other accused<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    No flight risk<\/strong>, as he joined probe<\/strong> voluntarily<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    \n

    \u2696\ufe0f ED\u2019s Argument vs Katyal\u2019s Defence<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    The ED alleged<\/strong> Katyal:<\/p>\n

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      Actively helped Lalu Yadav and his family<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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      Handled proceeds of crime<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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      Was Director of A K Infosystems Pvt Ltd<\/strong>, which acquired land from job seekers<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Katyal\u2019s defence<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

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      • \n

        No parity in arrests\u2014others with larger roles were spared<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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        His arrest was arbitrary and discriminatory<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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        He never evaded investigation<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        \n

        \ud83e\uddfe Case Background<\/strong><\/h3>\n

        The land-for-jobs scam<\/strong> is linked to Group D appointments<\/strong> in the West Central Zone of Indian Railways (Jabalpur, MP)<\/strong> during Lalu Prasad Yadav\u2019s tenure as Railway Minister (2004\u20132009)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

        In exchange for jobs, land parcels were allegedly gifted or transferred<\/strong> to Yadav\u2019s family members or associates.<\/p>\n

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          \ud83d\udcc5 FIR Registered: May 18, 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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          Accused: Lalu Yadav, his wife, two daughters, unidentified officials, and private individuals<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

        • \n

          Katyal was arrested on November 10, 2023<\/strong>, under provisions of the PMLA<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          \n

          \ud83d\udccc Supreme Court Verdict: Final Word for Now<\/strong><\/h3>\n

          With the Supreme Court upholding the High Court\u2019s bail order<\/strong>, the ED faces renewed scrutiny over its investigation strategy and reluctance to act against alleged primary beneficiaries.<\/p>\n

          Stay with The Legal Herald<\/strong> for more updates on this and other high-stakes courtroom battles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) challenging the bail granted to businessman Amit Katyal, a close associate of RJD…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":60738,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60737","post","has-post-thumbnail","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60737"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60739,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60737\/revisions\/60739"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlypostdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}