The CBI has registered two fresh cases in Uttar Pradesh mining scam naming four IAS officers and former Minister Gayatri Prajapati as accused and conducted searches at 12 locations in the State on Wednesday including Bulandshahar, Lucknow, Fatehpur, Azamgarh, Allahabad, Noida, Gorakhpur and Deoria.
The CBI FIR names Prajapati, a former minister in the Samajwadi Party government, and then Principal Secretary Jiwesh Nandan, Special Secretary Santosh Kumar, then district magistrates Abhay (Fatehpur) and Vivek (Deoria), agency sources said.
The Uttar Pradesh Government had mandated e-tendering for renewal and award of fresh lease for sand mining in the State on May 31, 2012, which was upheld by the Allahabad High Court on January 29, 2013.
In the case involving Prajapati, the agency has alleged that beneficiaries Shiv Singh and Sukhraj used the influence of the Minister to get their lease renewed in irregular manner.
Nanadan and then district magistrate of Fatehpur Abhay allegedly conspired with the minister to get the lease renewed in the matter of Sukhraj in 2014 while Singh managed to get his lease renewed in 2012. The lease of the duo was allegedly renewed in violation of e-tendering policy of the State government, they said.
In the second case, the agency has alleged that Vivek, during his stint as DM in Deoria, allowed renewal of lease of one Sharda Yadav.
Yadav, whose petition for renewal of lease was dismissed by the Allahabad High Court on April 5, 2013, managed to get it renewed next day in conspiracy with Vivek and other officials of the district, the CBI has alleged in the FIR.
The agency teams simultaneously reached the 12 locations in the State on Wednesday morning, including at the premises of 2007-batch IAS officer Abhay, presently the District Magistrate of Bulandshahr, and 2009-batch IAS officer Vivek, the Mission Director of Uttar Pradesh Skill Development Mission to conduct searches, they said.
The officials said cash of around Rs 47 lakh was recovered from the premises of Abhay and about Rs 10 lakh was recovered from the residence of Devi Sharan Upadhyay, the then ADM of Deoria. Upadhyay is presently posted as the CDO in Azamgarh, and the agency also searched his premises. The agency also seized some documents related to properties from the premises of Vivek who is presently posted as Director, Training & Employment, Lucknow.