The CBI had earlier announced in an FIR filed on the second of January that it will examine the role of former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Akhilesh Yadav, and his former Cabinet colleague Gayatri Prajapati in a case of illegal mining.
Now, CBI sources are reported to have elaborated on the allegations against the Samajwadi party supremo. CBI sources have reportedly said that during Akhilesh Yadav’s tenure as mining minister, 14 leases were granted in Hamirpur without e-tenders in violation of an Allahabad High Court order.
#NewsAlert — Exactly after 18 days of HC order, on Feb 17, 2013, without e-tendering 13 leases were granted in Hamirpur. Another lease was given on June 14 2013. Of the 22 lease violations, 14 violations happened when @yadavakhilesh was the mining minister: CBI Sources. pic.twitter.com/JFAQaMbhSC
— News18 (@CNNnews18) January 7, 2019
On Saturday, the CBI searched 14 locations including the premises of former IAS officers in UP and Delhi. The public servants are accused of allowing illegal mining between 2012-2016 and illegally renewing licence despite National Green Tribunal ban. The officers are accused of allowing theft of minerals, money extortion from leaseholders and drivers. Yadav, along with being the state’s chief minister, also held the mining portfolio during 2012-13. He was succeeded by Gayatri Prajapati. Gayatri Prajapati was arrested in 2017 after a Chitrakoot woman accused him of rape.
Akhilesh had earlier alleged that it was a case of political vendetta and warned the BJP that similar actions may be taken against them in the future. “Samajwadi Party is making efforts to win maximum Lok Sabha seats. Those who want to stop us, have the CBI with them. Once the Congress did CBI probe, and I was questioned. If the BJP is doing all this, the CBI will question me, I will answer (them). But, the people are ready to give an answer to the BJP,” Akhilesh was reported to have said.
“Why is the CBI conducting raids. Whatever they want to ask, they can ask me. However, the BJP should remember that the culture it is leaving behind, it may have to face it in the future,” he added.
BSP supremo Mayawati claimed that the BJP was using the CBI to target Akhilesh Yadav due to the SP-BSP alliance in Uttar Pradesh. She stated, “The CBI raids and later the threat of quizzing by the CBI in a mining scam is nothing but political animosity of the BJP. Such petty politics and political conspiracy are not new for the BJP. The people of the country have understood it and they will teach the BJP a lesson in the Lok Sabha polls.”
“The day news of the SP-BSP top leadership meeting came out, the BJP government used the CBI and raids were conducted in an old mining scam and the news of quizzing Akhilesh Yadav was deliberately spread. Is it not an action to defame the SP-BSP alliance?” she added.
Many leaders of the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ are battling corruption cases in the Courts. Blaming it all on political vendetta has been their preferred mode of defence thus far. The mother-son duo of the Congress party, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, are out on bail in the National Herald case. Lalu Prasad Yadav has been convicted in the Fodder Scam.
Finance Minister during the UPA regime, P Chidambaram, has also been knocking at the door of Courts to grant him protection from arrest. He was today interrogated by the ED in connection with the INX money laundering case. His son, Karti Chidambaram, was arrested by agencies last year in February for allegedly lobbying for the Mukerjees, in order to get FIPB clearance from Finance Ministry, which at the time was under his father. The ED had also attached properties and bank deposits of Karti Chidambaram worth around Rs.54 crores in connection with the case, in October last year.
it appears that the alleged crimes committed by the politicians opposing Prime Minister Narendra Modi is finally coming home to roost.
