Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Tuesday "exposed" yet another firm - that he alleged was a shell company set up for the sole purpose of buying assets using black money - in which four of RJD chief Lalu Prasad's children are directors.
"Calcutta businessmen P. Sarawagi and A.K. Maheshwari had floated a company, Fairgrow Holdings Private Limited, in 1991 with an investment of Rs 35 lakh showing its address as 131/1 Bakul Bagan Road, Calcutta," Modi said. "RJD leader and Lalu's confidant Prem Gupta took over the company when Lalu was (Union) railway minister. Vijay Pal Tripathi, who was director in Gupta's company Delite Marketing, was made a director in the company (Fairgrow). In the same way, a certain Anil Tulsayan was made director in the company.
"The old directors of the company were removed in 2014 and Lalu's children Tejashwi Yadav, Tej Pratap Yadav, Chanda Yadav and Ragini were made directors in the company in their place," said Modi.
Before Lalu's children became directors, Modi alleged, the firm purchased a house worth Rs 76.32 lakh during Lalu's tenure as railway minister (2004-09).
"This asset was shown as a house till 2011 in the balance sheet of the company and in the balance sheet of 2012 it was shown as a piece of land.," the BJP leader added.
He did not specify where this house/land is. "The details of the company's assets should be probed," he said.
He also alleged that the company's address and those of its shareholders were fake.
A visit to the Bakul Bagan Road area by The Telegraph revealed that there indeed is no address such as 131/1 Bakul Bagan Road. The front ground-floor portion of the four-storey building - with premises numbers 131/1 A, 131/1B and 131/1C - houses an eye-care unit while the remaining part of the building has residential apartments.
"I have been living here for the past 40 years. I never saw any company in the building. Besides, there is no office of any private company in the adjoining buildings," said G. Singh, a ground-floor resident of 131/1C, Bakul Bagan Road.
Another local resident, Johnny Anthony, also said he had never heard of such a company in the area. "The Bakul Bagan Road area is dotted with residential apartments and a few eateries. I have not seen any company's office here," Anthony said.
In Patna, Modi raised a number of questions.
"Why did the floaters of the company hand it over to Prem Gupta after he became Union minister in 2006? Also, why did the directors of the company virtually hand over the company to Tejashwi and his siblings in 2014? Why did the company purchase asset worth Rs 76 lakh when Lalu was the railway minister?" he asked.
"The Lalu family's modus operandi of acquiring benami assets stands exposed," Modi alleged. "They used an old company to float a new company and assets were purchased using black money. Then the old directors were removed and Lalu's family members were either made directors or given ownership of such companies by using a small sum and then the assets of the company became theirs."
He shared copies of documents showing names of shareholders in the company. The 2009 report showed there were 15 individuals and five companies as shareholders. Eight of the shareholders had the same address.
Similarly, three of the shareholding companies had the same address.
The Telegraph has not verified the authenticity of these documents.
"All the shareholders are fictitious and Tejashwi and his siblings who are directors in the company are the real owners of the firm. I will provide the company's documents to the income-tax department also," Modi said, adding that he digging out even more details of Lalu's family assets.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY PRONAB MONDAL IN CALCUTTA
