New Delhi: The CBI on Monday filed a charge sheet against former railway minister Lalu Prasad, his wife Rabri Devi, his younger son Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and 11 others in connection with the land for railway hotels case.

The agency had recently questioned Rabri at her home in Patna over the case.

The case pertains to allegations that Lalu, as railway minister, gave the maintenance of two hotels run by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation in Ranchi and Puri to Sujata Hotel, a company owned by Vinay and Vijay Kochhar, in return for a prime 3-acre plot in Patna through a benami (shell) company.

After the tender was awarded to Sujata Hotel, the ownership of the benami company, Delight Marketing Company, also changed hands from Sarla Gupta to Rabri Devi and Tejashwi Yadav between 2010 and 2014.

By that time, Lalu had resigned as railway minister.

The FIR in the case naming Tejashwi, who was then deputy chief minister, had triggered the fall of the Grand Alliance government.

The filing of the charge sheet will come as a worry for the RJD.

Tejashwi had taunted BJP leaders, particularly deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, daring them to file the charge sheet against him and his family.

The RJD on Monday put up a brave face.

"The agency has filed the charge sheet to save its own reputation because its own legal wing had written that the evidences against Lalu and his family was frivolous," declared RJD national spokesperson Shivanand Tiwari.

Privately, RJD leaders admitted they are worried over the possibility of Tejashwi and Rabri also being sent behind bars. "Once the CBI court in Delhi takes cognisance of the charge sheet it will issue summons to all the accused to appear before it. In court, all the accused persons will move for bail. If the court does not give bail, they will be remanded to judicial custody and will have to move a higher court for bail. In such a case, if Tejashwi and Rabri are also taken into custody, the party will become virtually headless," a senior party leader said.

Another leader pointed out that such a development may also upset the wedding of Lalu's eldest son Tej Pratap Yadav, scheduled on May 12.