New Delhi: The CBI is conducting a search operation at 22 locations including three residential premises of former Uttar Pradesh minister Gayatri Prajapati in connection with an illegal mining case, officials said Wednesday.
His three houses in Amethi were part of this search operation which is spread over 11 locations in Hamirpur district in the state and several other places in Delhi and NCR, the officials informed. Prajapati held the mining portfolio in the Akhilesh Yadav government and he is considered an influential Samajwadi Party (SP) leader.
Prajapati is currently in jail in a rape case. A woman from Chitrakoot had alleged that the minister exploited her on the promise of allotting her a mining lease, but the minister has denied the charge.
The CBI said rules and procedures were violated by politicians and officials in the allotment of mining leases of minor minerals in Hamirpur district during 2012-16. Minor minerals are sand, gravel etc.
They said social media sensation IAS officer B Chandrakala is also named as accused in the case registered by the CBI. Her videos lashing out at government officials had earned her the title of ‘Lady Dabang’.
Also Read – Pak’s ex-PM Imran Khan gets protective bail in terrorism case
An UP cadre IAS officer of the 2008-batch, Chandrakala was the district magistrate of Hamirpur during 2012-14 when she allegedly violated an e-tender system of allotting mining contracts in her district, the FIR said.
Akhilesh, who was the Chief Minister of the state between 2012 and 2017 and held the mining portfolio during 2012-13, is also under scanner, according to the FIR. He was succeeded by Prajapati, who took charge as the Mining Minister in 2013. He was arrested in 2017.
This is a third FIR pertaining to illegal mining cases registered January 2, 2019 by the CBI, nearly two-and-a-half year after the agency was directed by the Allahabad High Court to probe the issue. It had carried out first searches after the FIR was filed.
PTI