IRCTC scam case: Delhi Court warns Tejashwi Yadav not to make statement which have potential to influence witnesses, refuses to cancel bail

A Delhi court on Tuesday advised Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav to be responsible and choose appropriate words while speaking in public.

Meanwhile, the Court also refused to cancel the bail granted to him in the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) alleged scam case.

The Special Judge Geetanjali Goel while passing oral order on the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) plea seeking cancellation of bail against Tejashwi Yadav said directly to Yadav, "You are on very responsible post, it is not right to use such words. Use appropriate words in public because your words impact a huge number of the public."

"You have to understand the implications of your words this should not happen again. You must choose words carefully and not issue and use such words which have the potential to influence witnesses," said the court.

The Court was hearing CBI's plea seeking direction to cancel the bail granted to Tejashwi Yadav. Tejashwi Yadav is one of the accused in the IRCTC alleged scam case. He is presently Deputy CM of Bihar State. According to the CBI, Tejashwi Yadav had threatened the CBI officials while addressing a press conference, thereby influencing the case.

Advocate DP Singh appeared for CBI and submitted that "one of the case-related CBI officer recently met with the accident by a truck. We are not correlating these incidents with the threat as we have no evidence. But officers are afraid now after the Tejashwi Yadav presser which was according to the CBI was a clear threat to its officers. So we requested the court to cancel his bail on this ground."

Senior Advocate Maninder Singh appeared for Tejashwi Yadav and denied the submission made by CBI counsel. My client's press conference was in another context.

"He talked about many things, scams and other political issues in the press conference I spoke about the land for Job Scams. I have spoken about the raids, in that case, how is he seeking a cancellation in IRCTC?" said Singh.

Tejashwi's counsel Maninder Singh further added that "If I have not violated anything in the IRCTC scam case and I am not an accused in the Land for Job scam till date. If you feel I have threatened the CBI officials register an FIR under IPC."

CBI earlier submitted that the statements made by him (Tejashwi Yadav) are an open threat to the CBI, the officers and their families by the Accused. The Accused has openly warned the CBI officers against carrying out the investigations, also resorting to innuendoes and threats in the process, CBI said.

The plea stated that the accused (Tejashwi Yadav) is highly influential and powerful. He is the son of a former Union Cabinet Minister as well as the former Chief Minister of Bihar. He himself has been and is again the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar.

CBI had registered a criminal case against then railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav and others in 2017.

Earlier the court had granted Tejashwi Yadav and others bail after taking cognizance on the chargesheet filed by CBI in the IRCTC scam case. The court noted that the case pertains to alleged irregularities in granting the operational contract of two IRCTC hotels to a private firm.

Former Union Railway Lalu Prasad Yadav and his wife Rabri Devi are also accused in the case. Lalu Prasad also served as Union railway minister from 2004 to 2009.

( With inputs from ANI )