UP ex-minister Prajapati holds 59 properties, ED tells court

THE ENFORCEMENT Directorate has told a special court in Lucknow that Gayatri Prajapati, former mining minister in the Akhliesh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh, and his family members hold 59 immovable properties through companies owned by them. It said that his family members, who also hold many properties and have entered into loan transactions with each other, have not been able to explain the source of funds.

The agency made these assertions during the hearing on ED’s application for Prajapati’s custody on Wednesday. The court granted ED seven days custody of Prajapati, who has been in jail in a rape case.

The ED is probing politicians and bureaucrats from Uttar Pradesh for alleged proceeds of crime earned through illegal allotment of sand mining licences in Hamirpur between 2012 and 2016. The ED case is based on a CBI FIR filed in 2019 where the latter said it would also examine the role of ministers who held the charge of the mining ministries during the period of the alleged scam. Former CM Akhilesh Yadav held the charge of the mining ministry until Prajapati took over as mining minister in 2013.

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“During investigation so far it is revealed that Gayatri Prasad Prajapati and family members and their companies are holding at least 59 immovable properties worth Rs 20.90 crore…,” the court order noted of ED’s submissions.