Agencies in 2025 conclude charge sheets in IRCTC, land-for-jobs and other probes; to press for early trials

On October 13, special judge Vishal Gogne framed charges against Lalu Yadav, Rabri Devi, son Tejashwi Yadav and others for their alleged involvement in the IRCTC hotels scandal. The court framed charges of corruption (under relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act), criminal conspiracy, cheating and others against Lalu Yadav. Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav and others were charged with several offences, including conspiracy and cheating. The trial kick started eight years after CBI registered a case.

Having concluded their investigations and submitted their final charge sheets in several significant cases in 2025, the CBI and ED will, in 2026, turn the spotlight on urging courts to kickstart trials. The agencies have concluded their arguments on framing of charges against the accused in at least four high-profile cases. In one case –– involving former Union railways minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi –– a special CBI Court has already framed charges. The court is set to pronounce its order on framing of charges in another case involving Lalu and his kin.

IRCTC SCANDAL
On October 13, special judge Vishal Gogne framed charges against Lalu Yadav, Rabri Devi, son Tejashwi Yadav and others for their alleged involvement in the IRCTC hotels scandal.

The court framed charges of corruption (under relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act), criminal conspiracy, cheating and others against Lalu Yadav. Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav and others were charged with several offences, including conspiracy and cheating. The trial kick started eight years after CBI registered a case.

Judge Vishal Gogne held that he reached a prima facie conclusion that Lalu Yadav was in complete know of the processes and intervened to influence the transfer of the hotels.

The judge said “there were material modifications in the tender process… It has emerged as a distinct possibility that at the point of sale, the land parcels were undervalued and then came to be vested in the hands of Lalu Yadav”.

The court observed that Lalu Yadav's actions caused great loss to the public exchequer. It said various individuals “engaged in a conspiracy which may have involved multiple smaller conspiracies”. The court stressed that the process amounted to crony capitalism in the garb of promoting private participation.

Rabri Devi moved court seeking transfer of all four cases from judge Vishal Gogne accusing him of bias. These include the IRCTC case, the alleged cash-for-jobs case being prosecuted by CBI, and the money laundering proceedings associated with them being investigated by ED.

CBI opposed Rabri's plea stating that she is indulging in “forum shopping” and that Judge Gogne is not biased but “inconvenient” for Rabri. In December, a local court dismissed her plea.

According to CBI, Lalu Yadav committed misconduct by colluding with the owners of Chanakya and Sujata Hotel in Patna through IRCTC officials and owners of a front company belonging to Lalu Yadav and Rabri Devi.

LAND FOR JOBS SCANDAL
This is another alleged scandal involving Lalu and his family. After hearing the CBI's contentions seeking framing of charges against the accused and counter contentions of the accused, a special CBI Court reserved its order on the framing of charges last month.

Judge Vishal Gogne directed CBI to file a status report after verifying the status of the accused in the case. Of the 103 accused, four had died. The apex court had, this August, refused to entertain a plea by Lalu Yadav seeking deferment of trial court proceedings against him. Lalu moved the SC seeking directions to the trial court to adjourn the proceedings till the Delhi High Court concluded hearing his petition to quash the case.

Refusing to stop the lower court proceedings, the SC clarified that the trial court's framing of charges in the case would not render Lalu's quashing petition in the HC infructuous.

Lalu, Rabri, their two sons Tejashwi, Tej Pratap Yadav, daughters Misa Bharti, Hema Yadav were charge sheeted by the CBI among others in the alleged scandal.

Describing Lalu as the “kingpin” of the alleged scandal, CBI in its charge sheet relied on the statements of two approvers who disclosed that they were allegedly pressurised by Lalu to give jobs to select applicants whose names were finalised by Lalu's office.

As regards Rabri Devi, daughter Misa Bharti and sons Tejashwi and Tej, the CBI argued that they were “beneficiaries” of the land parcels given by applicants in lieu of jobs given illegally to them in the railway department at the behest of Lalu and the coaccused. In total, the CBI has charge sheeted 78 individuals, including Lalu.

DELHI EXCISE POLICY SCANDAL
The CBI had, in November, concluded its arguments on framing of charges against the accused in the case allegedly involving senior AAP leaders –– former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh and others. Currently, the accused are presenting their counter, opposing the CBI's demand for framing of charge against them. If the court finds force in CBI's contentions and decides to frame charges, trial in another high-profile case will kickstart in 2026.

In a first, in May 2024, the ED charge sheeted AAP as an accused under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). AAP became the first political party to have been accused under anti-money laundering laws. ED invoked Section 70 (1) of PMLA to implead AAP as an accused.

In August 2025, the Delhi High Court asked ED to place on record the mandatory sanction obtained by it to prosecute AAP leaders Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia. The AAP leaders approached the high court, challenging the trial court's decision to take cognizance of the ED chargesheet in the case, citing lack of mandatory prosecution sanction. ED's counsel informed the Delhi High Court that a sanction had been obtained and produced before the trial court.

NATIONAL HERALD CASE
On December 16, a Delhi Court refused to take cognizance of a money laundering prosecution complaint (equivalent of a chargesheet) filed by ED against senior Congress leaders Sonia, Rahul Gandhi and others for their alleged involvement in the National Herald case.

The court made it clear that the cognizance is declined “on a pure question of law”. Judge Vishal Gogne clarified that “since a question of law has governed the above order declining cognizance, the court is not required to address the merits of the allegations”.

Disapproving of ED's action, the judge held that “upon first having shared information with the CBI in 2014 and then having waited for seven years for the CBI to act, the ED inverted the template of money laundering being consequential to the predicate offence by recording its own ECIR on June 30,2021”.

This October, the Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on the basis of investigation findings shared by the ED filed an FIR against Sonia, Rahul Gandhi and others.

The court held that the “present investigation by the EOW (upon the scheduled offence) and the possibility of further investigation by the ED (in light of the investigation by the EOW) makes it imprudent for the court to render any prima facie finding qua the existing allegations”.

ED filed an appeal against the order in the Delhi High Court which, on December 22, issued notice to Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and five others.

RESTITUTION OF ASSETS
The federal agency until October 2025 successfully restored properties worth `34,822 crore to victims of fraud. ED director Rahul Navin made it clear to ED sleuths that besides finalising chargesheets and starting trials, the agency's focus has to be on restitution of properties to the victims. The agency will become even more proactive on this in 2026, people in the know told ET.

Of the Rs 34,822 crore, Rs 15,201 crore was restored during 2019-2021 primarily in the cases of fugitives Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, and Mehul Choksi. A renewed impetus was given since June 2024 to restore monies to the victims in 32 cases with a total of Rs 15,262 crore during FY25. In FY26, Rs 4,358 crore was restituted.

In December, the agency facilitated the restitution of an additional Rs 311.67 crore towards long-pending workmen dues of Kingfisher Airlines Limited (KAL). The amount is to be transferred to the Official Liquidator for disbursement to former KAL employees.

VVIP CHOPPER SCANDAL
This February, a local court allowed an ED plea seeking segregation of trial in the `3,600-crore VVIP chopper scandal. ED moved an application seeking to segregate the trial of the accused who have been served summons and joined investigation from those (accused) who have till date either not been served upon or have evaded the investigation.

ED's trial in the case will commence nearly 12 years after a probe was launched into alleged irregularities in an Air Force deal to purchase helicopters for transporting VVIPs. ED is yet to complete its arguments on framing of charges against the accused.

There are a total of 60 accused in the money laundering case being probed by ED under relevant provisions of PMLA. Of these, 21 accused have till date neither joined the investigation nor have been served summons by ED. In its application, ED had submitted that the “summons/warrants issued by the court against 21 accused persons/entities could not be served despite the best efforts”.

The agency urged the court to “separate” the case of the 21 accused “so that charges could be framed” against the remaining accused and the “trial may be initiated”.

The CBI, last month, concluded its arguments seeking segregation of trial. The special CBI Court will deliver its verdict on whether to allow segregation of trial. If CBI's plea is also allowed, the agency will submit its arguments on framing of charges against the accused who have been served summons. Post CBI's arguments, the accused will present their counter submissions. The court will then decide whether to frame charges against the accused and to kickstart the trial.

CASES INVOLVING ROBERT VADRA
The ED has filed its final prosecution complaints (equivalent to chargesheet) in two of the three money laundering cases allegedly involving Robert Vadra, husband of Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. In July, it filed its first complaint against Vadra and others for their alleged involvement in a money laundering case linked to a land deal in Shikohpur, Haryana.

It provisionally attached 43 immovable properties amounting to Rs 37.64 crore linked to Vadra and his entities, that is M/s Sky Light Hospitality Pvt Ltd and others.

The prosecution complaint was filed against eleven individuals and entities, including Vadra. Others chargesheeted under PMLA include M/s Sky Light Hospitality; Satyanand Yajee and Kewal Singh Virk, including their entity M/s Onkareshwar Properties.

The agency quizzed Vadra in connection with the case in April 2025. Vadra repeatedly denied the allegations against him.

The case dates to 2018 when an FIR was registered against Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Haryana chief minister from 2005 to 2014, and against Vadra and real estate companies DLF and Onkareshwar Properties for alleged criminal conspiracy, cheating, fraud and forgery under the Prevention of Corruption Act. It is alleged that in February 2008, Skylight Hospitality, which Vadra launched in 2007 with a capital of Rs 1 lakh, bought 3.5 acres in Manesar-Shikohpur from Onkareshwar Properties for Rs 7.5 crore. The plot was mutated in favour of Skylight the next day and the title of the land was reportedly transferred to Vadra within 24 hours.

In November 2025, the agency filed a supplementary prosecution complaint against Vadra in a second money laundering case allegedly linked to UK-based arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari.

ED filed its original charge sheet in this case in 2023, alleging that Bhandari acquired the 12, Bryanston Square house in London in 2009 and got it renovated “as per the directions of Vadra, who provided the funds for the renovation”. Vadra has repeatedly denied that he owns any London property directly or indirectly.

ED will file its final complaint in the third money laundering case against Vadra and argue on framing of charge urging the court to kickstart the three trials.

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Source: EconomicTimes
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