The Delhi High Court is likely to take up on Monday the petition filed by RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav challenging a special court order that framed charges against him in the alleged IRCTC scam case.

The petition also contests the charges against his wife Rabri Devi, son Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, and 11 others. The former Union railway minister recently moved the high court against the order, which was passed on October 13.

According to court sources, the matter is listed for hearing before Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma on January 5.

In its October order, the special court framed charges of cheating, criminal conspiracy and offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act against the accused.

While doing so, the court made sharp observations on the nature of the transactions under scrutiny, describing them as “possibly an instance of crony capitalism fostered in the garb of eliciting private participation in the Railways' hotels at Ranchi and Puri.”

Besides Lalu Prasad Yadav, charges under Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(d)(ii) and (iii) of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act were framed against Pradeep Kumar Goel, Rakesh Saksena, Bhupendra Kumar Agarwal, Rakesh Kumar Gogia and Vinod Kumar Asthana.

Section 13(2) deals with punishment for criminal misconduct by a public servant, while Section 13(1)(d)(ii) and (iii) relates to abuse of official position to obtain favours.

The court also directed that charges under IPC Section 420 (cheating) be framed against Lalu Prasad, Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, M/s LARA Projects LLP, Vijay Kochhar, Vinay Kochhar, Sarla Gupta and Prem Chand Gupta.

“A common charge is directed to be framed against all (14) accused under section 120B (criminal conspiracy) IPC read with section 420 IPC and section 13(2) read with section 13(1)(d)(ii) and (iii) PC Act,” the court had said.

If convicted, the accused face a maximum punishment of 10 years under the PC Act, while the offence of cheating carries a sentence of up to seven years.