UP sand-mining case: ED summons four including IAS-officer, SP leader
What's the story
Initiating fresh action, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued summons to four people, including IAS officer B Chandrakala and a Samajwadi Party (SP) leader, in connection with an alleged illegal mining case in Uttar Pradesh, official sources said today.
ED had filed a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after taking cognizance of a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) FIR.
Information
Probing role of Akhilesh Yadav in the case, said CBI
CBI filed FIR to probe illegal mining instances in the Hamirpur area between 2012 and 2016. The CBI has said it is probing the role of former Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav in the case as he had held the mining portfolio during this period.
Details
Chandrakala and Mishra summoned to appear in Lucknow next week
The sources said Chandrakala and SP MLC Ramesh Kumar Mishra have been summoned by the ED to appear before the investigating officer of the case in Lucknow next week.
Two more officials were similarly summoned under the PMLA, they added.
The ED is probing the money trail and whether the alleged illegal funds received as kickbacks in these cases were laundered by the accused.
CBI raids
Earlier this month, CBI had conducted searches at 14 locations
ED will also look for assets, both immovable and movable, of the accused that can be attached under the anti-money laundering law.
The CBI had carried out searches at 14 locations earlier this month in connection with its FIR against 11 people, including Chandrakala, Mishra and Sanjay Dixit (who had unsuccessfully contested the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls on a BSP ticket).
Akhilesh's role
Akhilesh under scanner as he held mining portfolio during 2012-13
The role of the then mining ministers during the said period might be looked into during the course of the investigation, the CBI FIR had said.
Akhilesh Yadav, who was the chief minister of the state between 2012-2017, held the mining portfolio during 2012-2013, apparently bringing his role under the scanner, according to the FIR.
He was succeeded by Gayatri Prajapati in 2013.
Other suspects
Other names in CBI FIR include Dinesh Mishra, Ambika Tiwari
Prajapati was arrested in 2017 following a complaint of rape by a woman residing in Chitrakoot.
Others named in the CBI FIR include SP MLC Mishra's brother Dinesh Kumar Mishra, Ram Ashrey Prajapati (then a mining clerk), Ambika Tiwari, Sanjay Dixit's father Satyadev Dixit, Ram Avtar Singh (a retired mining clerk), Karan Singh (a leaseholder) and Adil Khan, an alleged illegal excavator.