The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted raids at 22 locations in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi connected with the mining scam. Samajwadi Party leader and former Uttar Pradesh Minister Gayatri Prajapati, and Samajwadi Party’s MLC Ramesh Mishra were raided. The raids were conducted in connection with an illegal mining case.
CBI is conducting raids at 22 locations in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi; CBI raid also underway at the premises former UP Minister Gayatri Prajapati in connection with illegal mining case. (Visual from premises of UP Minister Gayatri Prajapati in Amethi) pic.twitter.com/gfFjDnfC0k
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) June 12, 2019
The CBI also conducted raid at the residence of Samajwadi Party MLC Ramesh Mishra situated at Hamirpur. As per reports, Prajapati’s residence and office in Amethi were raided too.
Prajapati held the mining portfolio in Uttar Pradesh under the previous Samajwadi Party government. A case was registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after the FIR was filed by the CBI against eleven people including former CM Akhilesh Yadav for alleged illegal allotment of sand licenses in Hamirpur between 2012 and 2016.
Prajapati is lodged in prison since March 2017 on the charges of the gang rape of a woman. The woman had accused Prajapati of inviting her and her daughter to his residence on the pretext of granting a mining contract and instead raped them both along with his men.
The Allahabad High Court had ordered an investigation in the illegal mining cases in 2016 during the Samajwadi Party government. The Allahabad High Court had received a complaint of illegal mining in seven districts of Uttar Pradesh.
