CBI summons Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday as witness in 2019 illegal mining cases

The CBI is examining the roles of Akhilesh and former minister in his cabinet, Gayatri Prajapati, in the case of issuance of mining leases in alleged violation of e-tendering process. In its FIR filed on January 2, 2019, on the orders of the Allahabad High Court, the CBI had stated, “The role of then mining ministers concerned during the relevant period may be looked into during the course of investigation of the case.”

Both Akhilesh and Prajapati had the charge of the mining ministry between 2012 and 2016 when the alleged irregularities in mining of minor minerals took place.

Reacting to the CBI notice to Akhilesh, Congress’s UP unit president Ajay Rai said the BJP is “frustrated due to the seat-sharing of INDIA bloc” that has taken place in a cordial atmosphere.

He said wherever elections are being held in the country, “somewhere ED, somewhere CBI, somewhere Income-Tax Department are being used to break people”.

The CBI had on January 5, 2019 searched 14 locations across Delhi and UP in connection with the case dealing with illegal mining in Hamirpur between 2012 and 2016. The locations searched included residences of SP MLC Ramesh Kumar Mishra and BSP leader Sanjay Dixit apart from then Hamirpur District Magistrate, B Chandrakala, among others. The premises searched were spread across Delhi, Hamirpur, Jalaun, Noida, Kanpur and Lucknow and were associated with the 11 accused mentioned in the CBI FIR.

The raids were conducted on the day the SP and the BSP finalised seat-sharing for 2019 elections and formally announced their alliance with the RLD.

“Akhilesh Yadav was holding the charge of the mining ministry from 2012 to June 2013. After that the ministry came under then Amethi MLA Prajapati. Since all irregularities have taken place between 2012 and 2016, the role of both Akhilesh and Prajapati have to be examined,” a CBI officer said.

CBI sources said DM Chandrakala allegedly gave out mining leases in violation of rules laid down by the UP government and allowed mining even during periods prohibited by orders of the National Green Tribunal.

MLC Mishra and his brother Dinesh Kumar are among the mining lease holders who allegedly benefited from these irregularities. BSP’s Dixit and his father Satyadev, too, held some leases during this period. All have been named in the FIR.

During its searches, the CBI had recovered Rs 2 crore cash and 2 kg of gold from the residence of an accused, Ramavtar Singh, who was a clerk in the mining department in Hamirpur at the time the offence was allegedly committed. He retired as senior clerk from Jalaun. According to the CBI, Ramavtar also held benami mining leases and had been suspended from the job earlier for five years.

In another search then at the residence of Mohammed Moinuddin, then geologist with the mining department, the CBI claimed to have recovered Rs 12.5 lakh in cash and 2 kg of gold.

Other accused mentioned in the FIR include Adil Khan, a key aide of Prajapati; Ram Ashrey Prajapati, then mining clerk at Hamirpur; lease holders Ambika Tiwari alias Bablu Mishra and Karan Singh.

The CBI had earlier initiated a preliminary enquiry in this case. According to the FIR, the enquiry revealed that the accused government officers “illegally granted fresh leases, renewed existing leases and permitted obstructed period to the existing lease holders without following the e-tendering procedure as mentioned vide Government of Uttar Pradesh order dated 31.05.2012 duly upheld by the hon. High Court of Allahabad”.

The Allahabad HC order was based on a PIL filed in 2016 alleging rampant illegal sand mining in the districts of Shamli, Hamirpur, Fatehpur, Siddharthnagar and Deoria district. The order had been challenged by the Akhilesh government in the Supreme Court but was turned down. Following this, Akhilesh sacked Prajapati, who later also got embroiled in a rape case.