While Lalu Prasad Yadav's Union Railway Minister in 2006, the CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) are investigating the issue of giving to contract for maintenance of two hotels of the Ministry to the Sujata hotel of Patna. When this contract was given, three members of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Tender Committee, BK Agrawal, Vinod Asthana and Rakesh Gogiya have told the Indian Express that they do not remember anything about these contracts.

The committee of Agarwal, Asthana and Gogia gave the contract of supervision of BNR Puri and BNR Ranchi to Sujata Hotel in December 2006. Agarwal is still working on senior posts in the Ministry of Railway. Asthana has retired in 2014 and Gogia was the only non-railway staff member of the committee. Gogia works in the private sector.

Agarwal was asked if he had seen the documents related to the contracts of both the hotels? Agrawal told Indian Express, "I do not remember anything about those two hotels. This is a very old thing."

He further said, "If I see a document, then it will not be right to say that I will remember."

Agarwal has been a mechanical service officer of Railways and, in 2006, being a General Manager of IRCTC's Tourism Service, he was a member of the Committee. He is now the head of the Central Organization for Modernization of Workshop of Railway.

Asthana was the Railway Traffic Service officer and he was a member of the Committee as a General Manager (Operations) of IRCTC in 2006. Asthana is also the director of IRCTC. He retired after becoming the managing director of Warehousing Corporation of Central Railside.

Asked about the contracts of both the hotels, Asthana told the Indian Express, "Tender were passed daily in those days, it is difficult for me to remember something immediately. Almost every day a tender came out of that time. However, I was in catering and this matter is not related to my department. I was only part of the Tender Committee."

Gogia, the third member of the committee, was Joint General Manager (Finance) and Company Secretary of IRCTC in 2006. In the year 2008 when these contracts were questioned for the first time, Gogia issued a signed note in the media and claimed that there was no disturbance in the whole process.

Asked about those contracts and notes, Gogia told the Indian Express, "Which note are you talking about? I have never issued any notes. That was not my job."

A copy of the note is present to the Indian Express. Gogia further said, "I do not remember any (about contracts). Some has not been uncommon." Gogia left the IRCTC in 2010.

The CBI recently collected the names of all officers related to the contracts of both the hotels. Last month, the CBI filed a case against Lalu Yadav, Rabri Devi and Tejasvi Yadav for taking a precious land in Patna instead of these contracts in its FIR.

Last week, the ED filed a case against the Lalu family for whitening black money on the contracts of these hotels. According to the document, Sujata Hotel was the only qualified claimant for the contracts of these hotels.

The Tender Committee rejected the claim of Hotel Keshri in Bhubaneswar saying that it does not seem that they have any plans. The Dinanath hotel's claim for Ranchi's hotel was also rejected and Sujata was given to the hotel.

On the same day, the Tender Committee recommended contract for Sujata Hotel (December 23, 2006), on the same day, it was finalized by IRCTC Managing Director PK Goyal. Goyal's name is also included in the CBI FIR.

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