Noida chief engg left to party’s tender mercies in tendering scam
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers held a protest at the Gautam Buddh Nagar District Collectorate on Thursday demanding suspension of Noida Authority engineer-in-chief Yadav Singh and action against those officials who were in his network and part of the scam.
Yadav Singh has been mired in controversy for being involved in a `954 crore scam. Barely a fortnight after his elevation as engineer-in-chief, officials of the Income Tax Department carried out raids at his palatial quarters and found `12 crore in cash hidden in the boot of an SUV, 2 kilos of diamond-studded gold jewellery worth crores and `12 lakh in cash from his bungalow in Noida. AAP leader KP Singh said, “It is strange how a diploma holder rose to engineer-in-chief post, superseding others and flouting all norms”.
An Income Tax raid was conducted at the residence of Singh on November 26 whose wife Kusumlata was the director of Meenu Creations, a garment export firm. The major allegation against the company is that it got some plots allotted in Noida by forming bogus share holdings in Kolkata. later, the shares were offloaded. This way those who purchased the shares got plots. The AAP gave a memorandum to the Sub Divisional Magistrate, which was also addressed to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, for Singh’s suspension.
On November 14, Singh was given additional charge as the engineer-in-chief of Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway authorities. He was supposedly close to the then Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Government and the present Samajwadi Party (SP) Government too. Sources said that Yadav Singh managed to get himself posted again by pulling strings. He ran a virtual empire as none dared to question him.
But following the raids which were carried out over two days, Singh was on Wednesday relieved of his charge and attached to the Personnel Department. Meanwhile, Income Tax Department has been searching the lockers of Singh to get more information about his wealth and a special team has been formed to probe the `954 crore tendering scam in which he was named. Singh’s close relatives have gone underground to evade queries by the Income Tax team.