NEW DELHI, Jan. 10 -- A Delhi court on Friday framed corruption charges and criminal conspiracy charges against former railway and Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife Rabri Devi, sons and his daughter, in the alleged land-for-jobs scam, noting that Yadav used the railway ministry as his personal fiefdom to carry out a criminal enterprise. Special Judge Vishal Gogne of Rouse Avenue Court, orally reading from the order, said, "A-1 (Lalu Prasad Yadav) used the railway ministry and the lands office as a personal fiefdom.Yadav and his close aides were operating as a criminal enterprise to usurp land". A detailed court order in the matter was not uploaded at the time of going to print. The court added that the chargesheet revealed an overarching conspiracy wherein public employment was used by Yadav as a bargaining chip to acquire lands favourably in the name of his family members, including sons Tejashwi and Tej Pratap Yadav, wife Rabri Devi and daughter Misa Bharti. Orally reading from the order, the court further said that the chargesheet indicated that close associates of Yadav, Bhola Yadav, RK Mahajan and PC Gupta, facilitated as co-conspirators. Stating Lalu Prasad Yadav's plea to be discharged was unwarranted, the judge said that the accused, under his leadership, allowed abuse of decisions by officials of the railway ministry. Meanwhile, the court went on to discharge 52 accused persons, which included Central Personnel Officers (CPOS), and all other substitutes who were not involved in parting land illegally. Out of the remaining accused, charges were framed against 41 persons, while five had passed away during the course of the court proceedings. Formal charges in the case will be framed against the accused on January 29 wherein the accused persons will be read out the charges against them and will be given an option to plead guilty or seek trial. The case was lodged by the CBI in May 18, 2022, against Prasad and his kin, alleging that Prasad, during his tenure as the Union Railway Minister between 2004 and 2009, distributed group D jobs in different zones of railway in lieu of land parcels allegedly transferred by the candidates in the name of his family members and other close associates. In its chargesheet filed before a Delhi court in 2023, the agency had named 78 accused persons, including 30 government officials associated with the Railway Ministry. Based on the CBI's case, the ED subsequently filed a money laundering case and submitted a chargesheet in 2024, naming Yadav and his family members among other accused, of acquiring illicit wealth through their alleged corrupt activities. A Delhi court had in October framed corruption and criminal conspiracy charges against Yadav and his kin in connection with the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) hotel corruption case. Yadav, his wife Rabri Devi and son Tejashwi Yadav, had pled not guilty and sought trial....