Even as the Allahabad High Court is yet to decide on withdrawal of criminal and fraud cases against former Samajwadi Party leader and Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh and mega Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan, the Akhilesh Yadav Government has sought a fresh report from the Kanpur authorities on withdrawal of cases against them.
Opposition parties have objected to the latest move of the UP Government and alleged that it was a direct intervention into judicial matters.
According to sources, the State Home Department has sought fresh report from the DM and SSP of Kanpur on the cases registered at Babupurwa police station against Singh, his wife Pankaja, Amitabh Bachchan and four others.
The cases of cheating, money laundering and other criminal offences were lodged by a lawyer Shivakant Tripathi of Kanpur on October 15, 2009. Along with Singh’s case, the Government has also sought report of withdrawal of cases against some other Samajwadi Party leaders in Kanpur.
However, the Allahabad High Court is hearing a petition lodged by Shivakant Tripathi challenging the closure report of Babupurwa police station against Singh and others submitted on November 3, 2012 at a Kanpur court.
BJP State spokesperson Vijay Bahadur Pathak said that the SP Government was intervening in judicial matters. “After issuing orders to withdraw cases against the terrorists, now the politicians, who are involved in money laundering and other crimes, are being benefitted,” he said.
Pathak also questioned that “when the matter of Singh is in the court, how can the Government seek report”. In the terrorist cases too, the Government had moved to withdraw the cases when the trial was underway,” he alleged.
The SP Government started the process of giving relief to Singh after it came to power in March 2012 and the closure report was filed in a Kanpur district court on November 2012 in the three-year-old fraud and embezzlement case citing lack of evidence.
The police submitted the report in court of Kanpur district judge on November 3, 2012. Babupurwa Circle Officer Pavitra Mohan Tripathi just gave clean chit to Singh within five days after the probe was transferred from EOW on October 28, 2012, when on October 12, 2012 the HC rejected the petition of Singh to quash the FIRs since the Enforcement Directorate had found that the allegations against him were baseless.