Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on Monday took a jibe at Central probe agency's searches at residences of his and his family members in several locations, including Patna and Delhi, saying 'thenga mila hain (recovered nothing).
"In 2017 in the same style they (BJP) did this...people are saying, a lot of wealth has been recovered from me, 'thenga mila hai' I can challenge them...They first used to say Benami, why don't they say it now?...," Yadav said while speaking to media persons.
Taking to microblogging Twitter to slam BJP, he claimed people will answer to BJP's fake political cases against his family.
"We are not fake 'Entire Political Science' people but socialist people with Real Public Science. We have political ground, dare and conscience to fight against the lies, rumors and fake political cases by BJP people. Listen Sanghis, you have conspirecies and money power, but we have people power," he tweeted.
ED says Rs 1 cr seized, Rs 600 crore detected
Earlier, Yadav dubbed as "rumours" the claim of the Enforcement Directorate that proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 600 crore were detected during searches on premises owned by him and close family members.
The RJD leader, who is currently away in Delhi, also said the BJP will be left embarrassed if he made public the "panchnama" (seizure list) signed after the raids.
"Just recall, in 2007, transactions worth Rs 8,000 crore, including a mall and hundreds of land plots, were alleged," tweeted Yadav, in an obvious reference to the land-for-hotels 'scam' pertaining to his father Lalu Prasad's tenure as the railway minister. Now facing the heat in the land-for-jobs 'scam' pertaining to, roughly, the same period, Yadav also recalled his name being linked to a mall seized in Gurugram, which turned out to be owned by a private company.
The RJD had threatened legal action against media outlets for "wrongly" reporting that Yadav, the party supremo's son and heir apparent, owned the commercial establishment.
"The BJP government (at the Centre) spreading rumours again, quoting sources. It should have asked its spin doctors to first settle the account on the previous operations, before coming up with the new tale of Rs 600 crore," Yadav said.
The ED had on Saturday said it seized "unaccounted cash" of Rs 1 crore and "detected proceeds of crime worth Rs 600 crore" after it raided RJD chief Lalu Prasad's family in connection with a money laundering case linked to the railways land-for-jobs 'scam'.
Yadav challenges ED to public list
"Let them make public the 'panchnama' (seizure list) signed after the raids. If we do so on our own, think of the embarrassment that these BJP leaders will have to face," added Yadav.
The ED had launched raids on Friday at multiple locations linked to Prasad's family members, including that of his son Tejashwi in Delhi.
The CBI had also recently questioned Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi -- former chief ministers of Bihar -- in the case. ED says Rs 1 cr seized, Rs 600 crore detected in proceeds of crime, Tejashwi skips CBI questioning
As RJD chief Lalu Prasad and his family faced more heat from central agencies in the alleged land-for-jobs scam, the Enforcement Directorate on Saturday said it seized Rs one crore in "unaccounted cash" and detected proceeds of crime worth Rs 600 crore after raids against them in a related money laundering case.
The agency said it is suspected that a huge amount of proceeds of crime was infused into purchasing a house in New Friends Colony in south Delhi that Prasad's son and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav was using as his residential property.
The house, which was among the locations raided on Friday when Yadav was staying there, was shown to have been acquired at a value of a mere Rs 4 lakh while the present market value is approximately Rs 150 crore, the agency claimed.
An investigation is underway to unearth more investments made on behalf of Prasad's family and their associates in various sectors, including real estate, the ED said in a statement.
Tejashwi Yadav was called for questioning on Saturday by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the case but did not appear and has sought a fresh date citing personal reasons, officials said.
The agency had recently quizzed Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi -- former chief ministers of Bihar -- in the case.
It is alleged that people were given employment in the railways in return for land parcels gifted or sold at cheap rates to the Yadav family and its associates during Prasad's tenure as the railway minister in the UPA government from 2004 to 2009.
In a statement on Saturday, the ED said, "Searches resulted in the recovery of unaccounted cash of Rs 1 crore, foreign currency including USD 1,900, 540 gms gold bullion and more than 1.5 kg of gold jewellery worth about Rs1.25 crore."
"Several other incriminating documents including various property documents, sale deeds, etc. held in the names of family members (of Lalu Prasad) and benamidaars indicating illegal accretion of huge land bank and electronic devices," it said.
It said the raids resulted in the "detection of proceeds of crime amounting to about Rs 600 crore at this point of time which is in the form of immovable properties of Rs 350 crore and transactions of Rs 250 crore routed through various benamidaars".
