How CBI case against Mulayam Singh changes with political tide

Mulayam Singh Yadav’s meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ten days ago generated the usual hype. It was widely speculated that he had made his reservations on the Food security Ordinance and had presented a 10 point amendment charter to the PM. But the news reports that the CBI was in final stages of preparing a closure report in disproportionate assets case against the Samajwadi Party chief, his UP chief minister son Akhilesh Yadav and other family members has muddied the political discourse. And there is already a twist in the tale. The petitioner in the case against Samajwadi Party brass, Vishwanath Chaturvedi told Firstpost: “On Friday I first had a telephonic conversation and then had a meeting with a Union Cabinet Minister belonging to the Congress Party. During that meeting I was told about the CBI’s move to file the closure report in DA case against Mulayam Singh Yadav. I was told as to how important it was for the party to have Samajwadi Party support on board on Food Security Bill. But then I was severely cautioned that I must not repeat what I did in 2008 otherwise it will not augur well for me.” On being asked who this cabinet minister was, Chaturvedi refused to name him, saying he can’t do that at this stage. He, however, named two senior Congress leaders who pressured him in the past on the same issue. [caption id=“attachment_974937” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] PTI[/caption] “In the past on some critical occasions I was asked to keep quiet by Salman Khurshid (not a minister then) and Sriprakash Jaiswal. This time around I was cautioned by some other Congress leader not to take further legal course. But I will proceed as per my conscience. If at all it was needed to name him I will file an affidavit in court and name him. Let’s see how it turns out.” He also claims that Mulayam’s meeting with the Prime Minister had a single point agenda, namely to discuss the status of disproportionate assets case, being investigated by the CBI since March 2007 on the direction of the Supreme Court. The Samajwadi Party is not commenting on the issue. Chaturvedi who is now a Delhi lawyer, belongs to Raebareli and had in 2002 contested on Congress ticket against then UP chief minister Rajnath Singh from Haidergarh. The food security ordinance is to be placed before the Parliament in the coming Monsoon session to become a long standing law of the land and is vitally important for the ruling Congress, which believes that the scheme will change the electoral course in the next parliamentary polls. The CBI is expected to plead that since Dimple Yadav, Mulayam’s daughter-in-law was taken out of the probe ambit in December last year, there is not much of a case against the Samajwadi Party leader. The progress of this case shares a grand coincidence with the swinging fortunes of both UPA governments and the warmth (or lack thereof) of Mulayam’s relationship with the ruling Congress. Interestingly, the CBI in its status report, PE:2(A)/2007/ACU-IV/CBI/New Delhi, filed after the conclusion of preliminary investigations concluded that “on basis of aforesaid enquiry, registration of a regular case under Prevention of Corruption Act against Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav and others is warranted.” The Supreme Court on 1 March, 2007 directed the CBI to inquire into a PIL filed by Vishwanath Chaturvedi in November 2005, which sought an investigation into the allegedly huge amount of illegal wealth amassed by Mulayam Singh Yadav, his sons Akhilesh and daughter-in-law Dimple Yadav. The agency was asked to check if the allegations made by the petitioner were correct or not, conduct a preliminary inquiry and see if a case could be made for further action. The CBI had collected 350 documents and questioned eight persons to check the accumulation of assets by the family in the period between 1 April 1993 to 31 March 2005. The 10 page CBI status report said that in April 1993 Mulayam Singh had assets worth Rs 18,25,266 and bank deposits of Rs 164791. By March 2005, the value of his immovable assets worth jumped to Rs 45,928,037, while his movable assets in the form of bank balance, FDR investment, and jewelry etc was at Rs 29,334,853. The total family income from all known sources was put at Rs 62,39,87709 and total expenditure to Rs 44,562,436.

The investigative agency concluded that “prima facie possession of assets disproportionate to known source of income was Rs 26,306,498.” The report said if some other things like the assets of Sadhna Yadav, Mulayam’s wife, “fake” receipts of gifts worth Rs 1.07 crore and construction cost of building at Safai was included the total amount of disproportionate assets would go upto Rs 4.80 crore. “Akhilesh Yadav, an MP, in capacity of public servant has not only abetted his father Mulayam Singh Yadav in acquisition of assets but has also acquired assets disproportionate to his known source of income”, the status report said. The Supreme Court pursued the case with vigour between March 2007 and March 2008. But then the politics and political equations changed at the centre in the aftermath of Indo-US nuclear deal. Mulayam’s 39 Samajwadi MPs came forward to save the UPA in a vote of confidence on 22 July, 2008 when the Left withdrew the support of its 62 MPs to the government. Later Dimple Yadav wrote to the PM, denying the allegations against her. Her letter was forwarded by the PM to the CBI. The investigative agency took the expected course, and sought a legal opinion. In November, 2008, then Solicitor General G E Vahanvati opined that the assets of Dimple and Malti Devi, Mulayam’s late first wife, could not be clubbed with those of Mulayam, because they “held no public office”. In December last year, the Supreme Court concurred to drop case against Dimple Yadav but said the case against Mulayam and his two sons would continue. The CBI filed an application before the apex court in December 2008, seeking the withdrawal of its earlier view that supported the registration of a regular case. It said that it was making this submission on the advice of the government. Subsequently, Chaturvedi again filed a counter petition. Incidentally, the coming months saw the failure of Congress and Mulayam coming to an electoral understanding in UP for parliamentary elections. The Congress decided to go solo and the CBI hardened its position again. The Apex court has reserved its order on CBI’s December 2008 plea and on Mulayam and family’s plea to quash the PE. As things stand today, though the CBI officially maintains that no final decision had been taken yet, there are indications that it could proceed to file a closure report. It has been said that CBI was finding it difficult to prove charges against Mulayam, Akhilesh and Prateek after Dimple’s exclusion from the ambit of the probe. The BJP has already made it a huge political issue, blaming Congress for misuse of CBI for political purposes, and using it to ensure the survival of the UPA. See the full CBI report here