Sleuths of Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday quizzed former minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati in connection with a sand mining scam reported during the previous Samajwadi Party regime.
A team of ED officials quizzed the SP leader in a room of the private ward of Urology department at King George’s Medical University (KGMU), where he has been under treatment in judicial custody for a kidney ailment for the past 45 days. Prajapati has been in jail in connection with a gang rape since March 2017. Amid tight security arrangements, the ED team quizzed Prajapati for over three hours.
Earlier this month, the CBI sleuths raided the residence of Prajapati and his sons and other relatives. Later, the ED registered a case of money laundering and started a probe.
Investigation into the sand mine scam revealed that the SP government gave approval to 22 sand mining licences illegally. Of those, 14 were approved allegedly by the then Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who was also the Mining minister, while the rest by Prajapati, who became the Mining minister thereafter.
The CBI, probing the scam on the direction of the Allahabad High Court, had even registered FIRs against then district magistrates of Fatehpur, Hamirpur and Deoria along with others before the ED took over the probe.
The ED sleuths found assets of Prajapati and his family members grew manifold at the time when he was the Mining minister.
Officials in Lucknow said Prajapati was interrogated after taking prior permission from the court. The ED is also likely to quiz the close associates of Prajapati and his family members in the coming days.