IRCTC Scam: Delhi High Court Issues Notice On Rabri Devi's Plea Against Framing Of Charges

The Delhi High Court on Friday issued notice on a plea filed by Rabri Devi, wife of former Bihar Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, challenging framing of charges against her in the alleged IRCTC scam case.Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma sought response of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and listed the matter for hearing on January 20. In her plea, Devi has said that the trial court has erroneously framed the charges against her merely on presumptions. She has said that even if the observations of the trial court are taken at their face value to be true, still no case is said to be made out against her for the offence punishable under Section 420 of IPC. “In the present case, the Ld. Special Court has acted as a post office and has erroneously framed the charges against the Petitioner mere on the basis of the above two presumptions i.e. the presumption related to sale of land parcels at undervalue consideration and another presumption related to the purchase of shares of M/s DMPCL at an undervalue prices,” the plea states. Vide the impugned order pass on October 13, 2025, the Trial Court had framed charges against Lalu Prasad Yadav, his son Tejashwi Yadav, wife Rabri Devi, and 11 others. For context, similar pleas filed by Lalu Prasad Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav are pending consideration before Justice Sharma. Charges were framed for cheating and criminal conspiracy. Prevention of Corruption Act has also been invoked against the accused."A common charge is directed to be framed against all (14) accused under section 120B (criminal conspiracy) IPC read with section 420 IPC and section 13(2) read with section 13(1)(d)(ii) and (iii) PC Act," the impugned order states.The trial court said that the land and share transactions in the case were “possibly an instance of crony capitalism fostered in the garb of eliciting private participation in the Railways' hotels at Ranchi and Puri.”Others against whom charges have been framed are Pradeep Kumar Goel, Rakesh Saksena, Bhupendra Kumar Agarwal, Rakesh Kumar Gogia and Vinod Kumar Asthana.The Court had also directed that the charge be framed under IPC Section 420 (cheating) against Lalu Prasad, Rabri Devi, Tejashwi, M/s LARA Projects LLP, Vijay Kochhar, Vinay Kochhar, Sarla Gupta, and Prem Chand Gupta.Title: Rabri Devi v. CBI

IRCTC Scam: Delhi High Court Issues Notice On Rabri Devi's Plea Against Framing Of Charges

Nupur Thapliyal

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