CBI books former SP leader Gayatri Prajapati, four IAS officers in Uttar Pradesh 'mining scam', raids 12 locations in state

New Delhi: The CBI has registered two fresh cases in Uttar Pradesh mining scam, naming four IAS officers and former minister Gayatri Prajapati as accused and carried out searches at 12 locations in the state, officials said Wednesday. The agency’s FIR names Prajapati, a former minister in the Samajwadi Party (SP) government, and then principal secretary Jiwesh Nandan, special secretary Santosh Kumar, then district magistrates Abhay and Vivek, they said. The Uttar Pradesh government had mandated e-tendering for renewal and award of fresh lease for sand mining in the state on 31 May, 2012, which was upheld by the Allahabad High Court on 29 January, 2013. [caption id=“attachment_5111711” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image of Uttar Pradesh police. AFP[/caption] 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. The agency has alleged that Nanadan Kumar and then district magistrate of Fatehpur, had 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 were allegedly renewed in violation of e-tendering policy of the state government. In the second case, the agency has alleged that Vivek while posted as the 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 5 April, 2013, managed to get it renewed next day in conspiracy with Vivek and other officials of the district, the CBI alleged. The agency teams descended at 12 locations in the state, including in 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 carry out searches after registering the FIRs, they said. The searches are spread at 12 locations including Bulandshahr, Lucknow, Fatehpur, Azamgarh, Allahabad, Noida, Gorakhpur, Deoria among others. The officials said cash of around Rs 47 lakh was recovered from the premises of Abhay while around 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, which was also searched. The agency also seized some documents related to properties from the premises of Vivek.