Mining case back in focus with CBI notice to Akhilesh Yadav
Between June 2017 and July 2019, CBI registered five FIRs against 44 people regarding illegal mining in Uttar Pradesh
Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Central Bureau of Investigation notice to Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav to appear as a witness in a multi-crore illegal mining case has put the focus back on the alleged corruption in the allotment of mining leases in the SP regime between 2012-17 in Uttar Pradesh.
A senior CBI official said Yadav has been asked to join the investigation as a witness before the probe agency on February 29 as he was U.P. chief minister when the illegal mining occurred during 2012 and 2016. He said the Allahabad high court, hearing a public interest litigation (PIL), on July 28, 2016, directed the CBI to investigate alleged illegal mining carried out in various districts.
In its investigation, CBI had short-listed seven districts — Shamli, Hamirpur, Fatehpur, Siddharth Nagar, Deoria, Kaushambi and Saharanpur — and began a probe .
Between June 2017 and July 2019, CBI registered five FIRs regarding illegal mining against 44 people, including the then district magistrates and officials of Shamli, Hamirpur, Fatehpur, Kaushambhi and Deoria, lease-holders and others.
The agency had raided the residence and establishments of IAS officers, politicians, mining contractors and mining officers at various places across the state in January 2019.
The FIRs also stated that the role of the then mining minister needed to be probed. The then minister Gayatri Prajapati, who is lodged in Lucknow district jail in different cases since he was arrested in a gang rape case in March 2017, is the main accused in the illegal mining case. He allegedly awarded contracts to different people during his stint as the mining minister between 2013 and 2016. Akhilesh Yadav, besides being the chief minister, held charge of the mining ministry before Prajapati from March 2012 to July 2013.
A former CBI official said a witness could be made an accused if the investigators have sufficient evidence about his involvement in the matter.
The Enforcement Directorate also registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, in the matter on January 17, 2019. It was based on FIRs registered by the CBI concerning alleged illegal mining of minor minerals, including sand mining during the 2012-16 period.
