Delhi HC to hear Rabri Devi's plea against framing of charges in IRCTC scam today

New Delhi [India], January 16 (ANI): The Delhi High Court is scheduled to hear on Friday a criminal revision petition filed by former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi, challenging the trial court order framing charges against her in the alleged IRCTC scam. The matter will be taken up by a bench of Justice Swarna Kanta Sharma.
Rabri Devi has approached the High Court, assailing the October 13, 2025, orders passed by a special CBI court at Rouse Avenue, which framed charges of cheating and criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code, along with offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The case stems from a 2017 CBI FIR relating to alleged irregularities in the award of contracts for the BNR hotels at Ranchi and Puri during the tenure of her husband, Lalu Prasad Yadav, as Union railway minister.
In her plea, Rabri Devi has contended that the trial court framed charges on mere presumptions, without any material to show dishonest inducement, fraud, or wrongful loss to the public exchequer.
She has argued that she was neither a director nor a shareholder of the concerned private company at the time the land parcels were purchased in 2005 and had no role whatsoever in the tender process for the railway hotels.
The petition further claims that the Central Bureau of Investigation failed to place any valuation report or evidence to support allegations of undervalued land or share transactions, and that all dealings were private transactions between private parties.
The plea seeks the setting aside of the order on charge and the consequential proceedings pending before the special court, asserting that the essential ingredients of offences under Sections 420 and 120B of the IPC are not made out even prima facie.
Meanwhile, the IRCTC scam proceedings have also reached the Delhi High Court through separate petitions filed recently by Lalu Prasad Yadav and his son Tejashwi Yadav, who have challenged the same trial court order framing charges against them. In those matters, the High Court has declined to stay the ongoing trial but indicated that it would examine the legality of the framing of charges expeditiously.
During the earlier hearing in their case, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Lalu Prasad, submitted that the issue of staying the trial was crucial as the proceedings were moving towards the stage of cross-examination of witnesses. The High Court, however, allowed the trial court to continue with witness examination, observing that it would decide the challenge to the framing of charges shortly.
The special CBI court, while framing charges, had made sharp observations, stating 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 railway hotel projects. The accused have consistently denied the allegations, maintaining that the transactions were legitimate and unconnected to any alleged quid pro quo. (ANI)