CBI tightens noose around Samajwadi Party leaders

New Delhi: Trouble seems to be brewing for Samajwadi Party leaders in Uttar Pradesh with the CBI probing the role of former state mining minister and a close confidant of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, Gayatri Prajapati, in a case pertaining to the illegal mining of minor minerals, specifically sand, in the state. The agency has registered a case to probe the illegal mining of minor minerals in Kaushambi district in the state during 2015-16.

“The agency has registered a case against 10 persons, including an assistant geologist, to probe the illegal mining of minor minerals in Kaushambi district in UP. Role of several politicians belonging to the then ruling party is also under the scanner,” sources said.

The possibility of probing the role of former state mining minister in the case can not be ruled out, they said.

The agency is expected to register more FIRs in this regard. Role of another former SP minister Azam Khan is already being probed by the CBI as part of its investigation into the alleged irregularities worth multi-crores in the functioning of Shia and Sunni Waqf Boards in Uttar Pradesh. Mr Khan was the minister for Waqf in the previous SP government in the state.

As far as illegal sand mining is concerned, sources said, the agency has already registered five PEs to probe the corrupt practices in five districts — Shamli, Hamirpur, Fatehpur, Siddartha Nagar and Deoria. “Although enquiries were registered against unknown officials of the district administration and the mining department of the state, Mr Prajapati’s role is also under the scanner in these enquiries,” sources said. The Allahabad high court in July 2016 directed the CBI to investigate the matter across the state, including the role of government officials in facilitating the same.

The high court had passed the order of CBI inquiry while hearing a public interest litigation filed by Vijay Kumar Dwivedi and others who had alleged that mining leases of a number of lessees had been “unlawfully extended” in the state after the same had expired in 2012. The court had observed that the claim made in affidavits filed by district magistrates across the state that no illegal mining was taking place in their areas of jurisdiction was “false” and dismissed as an “eyewash” the submission of the then principal secretary (mining) that a committee had been set up to look into allegations of illegal mining.