Patna: In another setback to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday confiscated a 1.2-hectare plot of land worth Rs450 million (Dh25 million) from his family in Patna in connection with the infamous land-for-railway hotel scam.

The Yadavs were constructing what it claimed was the biggest mall in Bihar on the plot, but before the project could be completed, the alleged scam surfaced and the land was confiscated.

The confiscation comes barely a week after ED authorities questioned Yadav’s wife, Rabri Devi, in connection with the scam in Patna. Besides her, the RJD President and his son Tejashwi Yadav are accused in the scam. The ED had earlier questioned Tejashwi over it too.

“They [probe agencies] are adopting double standards in conducting the investigation. For the past about three decades, they have been constantly targeting my family for alleged financial irregularities but no action has been taken against [the] son of BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] president Amit Shah, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, his deputy, Sushil Kumar Modi, and his sister Rekha Modi in similar cases. Why all the investigating agencies are after one single family?” asked Bihar Opposition leader Tejashwi.

He said, a huge amount of public money has been siphoned off by con men in various scams, such as the Srijan NGO scam, toilet scam, rice purchase scam and dustbin scam, LED bulb scam, etc., which have surfaced during the tenure of chief minister Kumar but no seriousness had been shown by the investigating agencies there.

The ED had registered the case against the Yadavs in July shortly after the Central Bureau of Investigation also filed a formal case against them, in which they were charged with obtaining 1.2 hectares of land from hoteliers in lieu of tenders. According to the CBI, the plot of land, valued at Rs320 million then, was sold to the Yadavs for Rs5.4 million.

The CBI later also conducted raids at the Yadavs’ house in Patna. RJD was still an ally of Kumar’s when the raid was carried out.

However, their fallout was serious as barely a fortnight after the registration of case against Yadav and his family, the Bihar chief minister broke away from the erstwhile ruling Grand Alliance and formed a government with the support of BJP, which he had been opposing.