Unrelated images shared as items recovered from ED raid at Lalu Prasad Yadav’s residence

The images are unrelated to the raids on the residences of former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav. The images from the raids have not yet been released by the Enforcement Directorate, but an investigation into the scam is underway.

Following the raids on the residences of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief and former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav by the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation.The ED recovered “proceeds of crime” amounting to Rs 600 crore from the recent raids in Mumbai, Patna, Ranchi, and New Delhi in connection to the alleged land for job scam. 

In this context, a collage of images allegedly from Lalu Prasad Yadav’s home has been shared on social media and linked to these ED raids. The photos show a large amount of jewellery, cash, and gold coins.The caption of the post states “Few items that were recovered by ED from “Gareebon ka Masiha” Lalu Prasad Yadav’s”.

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Fact check

Images 1 and 2: Gold coins and Boxes of cash

 A reverse image search led us to this tweet from the news agency ANI, which was posted on 11March, 2023.The tweet is in relation to the ED’s raids at 24 locations in connection to the alleged land-for-jobs scam. As per the tweet, “ED conducted searches at 24 locations in the Railways Land for Job Scam, resulting in the recovery of unaccounted cash of Rs 1 Crore, foreign currency including US$ 1900, 540 gms gold bullion and more than 1.5 kg of gold jewellery”.

In connection with the investigation into the railways land-for-job money laundering case, the ED conducted nationwide search operations on at least 24 premises allegedly associated with Lalu Prasad Yadav’s family on 10 March, 2023.

In further search, we came across a tweet by the ED published on March 11, 2023, which noted that the authority searched 24 locations across the country in the Railways Land for Job Scam. The raids led to the recovery of unaccounted cash of Rs 1 crore, foreign currency including US$ 1900, 540 gms gold bullion and more than 1.5 kg of gold jewellery. The ED has not officially released any photos from these raids

Images 3 and 4

We found two images of the jewellery boxes and bangles on the ED’s official Twitter page. . In a tweet published on 6 March, 2023 the ED notes, “ED has conducted searches and survey at 15 locations in Nagpur & Mumbai in relation to the investment fraud by Pankaj Mehadia, Lokesh & Kathik Jain. Unaccounted jewellery worth Rs 5.51 Crore and cash of 1.21 Crore have been seized. Further investigation is going on.”

We also found some news reports regarding this raid, the same viral photos were found in articles published by the ‘Hindustan Times’ news websites on 8 March 2023.Sharing these photos, the news websites reported that ED had recovered unaccounted jewellery worth Rs 5.51 crore and cash worth Rs 1.21 crore during the raid at the premises of Ponzi scam operators in Nagpur and Mumbai. 

Taking account of these evidences we can clearly understand that unrelated pictures are being shared as the pictures of unaccounted money and jewellery seized by ED at Lalu Prasad Yadav’s house. 

Conclusion

Fact crescendo discovered that the set of images is unrelated to the raids on the residences of former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav. The images from the raids have not yet been released by the Enforcement Directorate, but an investigation into the scam is underway.