SC puts off Mayawati assets case hearing

The Supreme Court adjourned a corruption case hearing against Uttar Pradesh CM Mayawati on Monday on learning that her lawyer was indisposed. The hearing pertains to a CBI enquiry into the disproportionate rise in her assets from Rs one crore in 2003 to Rs 50 crore in 2007. Mayawatis plea for adjournment comes shortly after a CBI affidavit said it had cogent,credible and admissible evidence against her. It was the first hearing before Justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar after CBI filed the affidavit last week.

The CBI had denied being under any political pressure to keep its probe against Mayawati alive,and walked a different path from its stance on April 23,2010 when Attorney General GE Vahanvati personally asked the SC for some leeway to consider the case against her. Mayawati had accused the CBI of acting under political pressure to discriminate against an unmarried lady living alone. The CBI is focusing its probe on Mayawatis alleged disproportionate assets on October 5,2003 following an SC order to probe the Rs 175-crore Taj Heritage Corridor scam.