The lavish hospitality that was part of the marriage of Railway Minister Lalu Yadav’s daughter Chanda has come under scanner.
NEW DELHI: The pomp and show and the lavish hospitality that was part of the marriage of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav’s daughter Chanda with Indian Airlines pilot Vikram Singh in April 2005 have come under the Supreme Court’s scanner.
Adjourning the hearing of a writ petition seeking an inquiry into the Rs21 lakh cash paid to ITDC-owned Hotel Ashoka for the ostentatious marriage, Judges asked the petitioner, Ashoka hotel Mazdoor Janata Union president S S Upadhayay, to get them original documents.
Upadhayay said around 5,000 guests including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, cabinet ministers, MPs and bureaucrats, among others, attended the marriage on April 30.
Party room number 479, the Darbar restaurant, the convention hall and the swimming pool area besides room number 1123, 1124, 1125, and 1126 in the hotel, were booked by Minister of State for Company Affairs Prem Chand Gupta, said the petition.
The normal rate of Rs900 per head was reduced to Rs600 per head and mocktails generally served at Rs90 was reduced to Rs60 per head. On May 4, the hotel raised a bill of Rs21 lakh bifurcating it in the names of several “assumed persons” who cleared the bill in cash, said the petition.
Earlier, BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar had also written a letter to finance minister P Chidambaram complaining against the “large scale cash payment by your colleague and central minister Shri Lalu Prasad to ITDC’s hotel Ashoka”.
Unlike the petitioner, Javadekar said Yadav paid Rs9 lakh on May 4 and got receipt no 532337. Hotel also issued another receipt for Rs1.01 lakh.
Drawing the FM’s attention towards the new SARAL form, Javedekar said “you are on record saying that the new form will give government the idea about the assessee’s expenditure pattern and more clearly the sources of funds.”
“Before inflicting this provision on rest of the nation through your complicated SARAL form, I hope you will set a precedent by asking revenue authorities to enquire from Lalu Prasad about the source of Rs10 lakh, which he incurred in cash,” said Javadekar, adding Yadav had violated government rules about furnishing PAN number on any payment above Rs50,000.
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