Akhilesh office ignored e-tendering, cleared 13 mining leases in a day: CBI

New Delhi, January 7

Amid criticism from a united Opposition, the CBI on Monday upped its ante against former UP CM and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav as it claimed his office had cleared 13 sand mining projects on a single day after allegedly ignoring e-tendering process.

Laying out details about the illegal mining case in UP, CBIofficials said Yadav, who also held mining portfolio for a brief period, cleared 14 leases, of which 13 were cleared on February 17, 2013, “in violation of e-tendering”.

The investigators also claimed the leases were awarded by then Hamirpur District Magistrate B Chandrakala. But the same was done after approval from the CMO in alleged violation of its 2012 e-tender policy, which was ratified by the Allahabad HCon January 29, 2013, they added.

The probe details were incidentally shared after the Samajwadi Party chief and other Opposition leaders accused the Centre of misusing the probe agency for political gains.

Akhilesh held a press conference in Lucknow on Sunday alleging that the BJP was misusing the CBI to arm-twist Opposition leaders, some of whom were trying to forge an alliance against the NDA regime. Hitting out at ruling BJP and principal Opposition Congress at the Centre, the SP chief said that “earlier the Congress gave us the chance to meet the CBI and this time, it is the BJP’s turn”.

The CBI had carried out searches at 14 locations on Saturday in connection with its FIR against 11 persons, including IAS officer B Chandrakala, Samajwadi Party MLC Ramesh Kumar Mishra and Sanjay Dixit (who unsuccessfully contested the 2017 Assembly poll on BSP ticket), to probe alleged illegal mining in Hamirpur during 2012-16.

This is the third FIR pertaining to illegal mining cases, which were registered by the agency on January 2, 2019, two-and-a-half years after it was directed by the HC to probe the matter. — TNS