The Delhi High Court on Thursday (October 29, 2026) asked the ED to respond to Lalu Prasad’s plea against money-laundering charges. He challenged a September 10 trial court order regarding the IRCTC hotel scam. Prasad said he was "never involved in any process or activity connected with the alleged proceeds of crime."

Lalu Prasad argues that it is a matter of record that he was 'never involved in any process or activity connected with the alleged proceeds of crime' in the alleged IRCTC hotel scam

The Delhi High Court on Thursday (October 29, 2026) asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to respond to former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad's petition challenging a trial court order on the framing of money-laundering charges against him in a case related to the alleged IRCTC hotel scam.

The court issued a notice to the agency on Mr. Prasad's petition against the trial court's September 10 order. It posted the matter for further hearing on December 3.

The ED case arises from a first information report (FIR) by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which has alleged that Mr. Prasad entered into a criminal conspiracy with the owner of Sujata Hotels and IRCTC officials for "undue pecuniary advantage to himself and others" between 2004 and 2014. The owner of Sujata Hotels is Sarla Gupta, the wife of his close associate Prem Chand Gupta, a Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP in the Rajya Sabha.

In his petition, Mr. Prasad said the trial court passed the order on framing of money laundering charges merely because charges had been framed against him in the scheduled offence, despite it being a matter of record that he was "never involved in any process or activity connected with the alleged proceeds of crime".

The petition contended that Mr. Prasad was never summoned by the ED for the purpose of investigation, which reflected that he was never involved in activity connected with the alleged proceeds of crime.

On September 10, the trial court had ordered the framing of money laundering charges against Mr. Prasad, his wife Rabri Devi, son Tejashwi Yadav, and six others in the case. It stated that the ED's allegations, spanning from 2005 to 2014, strongly indicated that under the stewardship of Mr. Prasad, a tender was manipulated by railway officials for the award of the lease of railway hotels in Ranchi and Puri to Sujata Hotels. Out of 16 accused, the trial court had discharged seven.