Benami case: Tejashwi Yadav, mother Rabri Devi quizzed by Income Tax officials

RJD Chief Lalu Prasad's wife Rabri Devi and son Tejashwi Yadav were question by the Income Tax department in connection with the alleged Benami property case in Patna on Tuesday.

The I-T department and the Investigating Officer (IO) of the Rs 1,000 crore case recorded their statements.

A special I-T team from Delhi has flown to Bihar capital to assist the IO of the case and take the probe forward, the offcials said.

The department had earlier questioned Lalu Prasad's MP daughter Misa Bharti and her husband Shailesh Kumar in the case.

The department had served notices of attachment of assets in June to Lalu, Rabri, Tejashwi ( former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister) and Lalu's daughters Chanda, Ragini Yadav, Bharti and son-in-law Kumar.

It had attached about a dozen plots and buildings in Delhi and Bihar including a farm house and land in the Palam Vihar area, a residential building in the upmarket New Friends Colony area of south Delhi, nine plots on a 256.75 decimal land area in Phulwari Sharif area in Patna, where a shopping mall was being constructed, among few others in the same area in Bihar's capital.

The department has said these alleged benami assets bear a "deed" value of about Rs 9.32 crore but the taxman has estimated their current market value at Rs 170-180 crore.

Benami properties are those in which the real beneficiary is not the one in whose name the property has been purchased.

The Lalu family has called these cases to be borne out of "political vendetta" againt them. The department is also expected to file a complaint in a competent court against the Lalu Prasad family in this case.