The state government on Wednesday gave permission to Vigilance Establishment for lodging of FIR against former higher education minister Rakesh Dhar Tripathi for allegedly amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. An official statement said the case against Tripathi will be registered under Prevention of Corruption Act. The Vigilance had sought permission for conducting an inquiry against Tripathi on the basis of a complaint received in October last year,alleging that Tripathi awarded accreditation to several colleges which did not fulfill the criteria,in return for bribe. Besides,the agency also inquired into another allegation against him about financial irregularities in purchase of books and other material for the libraries in government colleges and institutions. The agency completed the probe and sent a report seeking permission for lodging of an FIR and conducting a detailed investigation into the charges against Tripathi. Tripathi was earlier given a clean chit by special investigation bureau of police cooperative cell in LACCFED scam and Lokayukta too had closed probe into charges of corruption against him. Last year,the government had ordered Vigilance inquiries into charges of corruption and amassing disproportionate assets against six ministers of the previous Mayawati government. The Vigilance had sent reports to the government last month into the inquiries against former BSP ministers,including Chandra Deo Ram Yadav,Naseemuddin Siddiqui,Ramveer Upadhyay,Rakesh Dhar Tripathi and Babu Singh Kushwaha,seeking permission for lodging of FIRs. The Vigilance has so far registered cases against Chandra Deo Ram Yadav,Rangnath Mishra and Awadh Pal Singh Yadav.
