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FIR lodged against Mayawati
Lucknow, Oct 07: Nearly one and a half months after Mayawati quit as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister following the Taj heritage corridor controversy, the CBI has lodged an FIR against her and seven others in connection with the case.
Lucknow, Oct 07: Nearly one and a half months after Mayawati quit as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister following the Taj heritage corridor controversy, the CBI has lodged an FIR against her and seven others in connection with the case.
Besides Mayawati, those named in the FIR are her top aide and former State Environment Minister Nasimuddin Siddique, former Chief Secretary D S Bagga, former Principal Secretary to Mayawati P L Punia, former Principal Secretary Environment R K Sharma, former Environment Secretary V K Gupta, former Union Environment Secretary K C Mishra and NPCC chairman N C Bali, CBI sources here said.
Among the bureaucrats Bagga, Punia and Sharma were put under suspension by the Mulayam Singh Yadav government while similar action was taken against Gupta by Mayawati in connection with the case.
The FIR lodged in a CBI court here against Mayawati and seven others came three weeks after the apex court directed CBI to take such an action for their alleged involvement in the scam. The CBI began probe into irregularities in clearance to the Rs 175- crore high-profile case following a Supreme Court order of July 16.
After considering three different probe reports submitted by the CBI, an apex court bench comprising Justice M B Shah and Justice B N Agrawal had on September 18 concluded that registration of FIRs were necessary for carrying out further investigations as to how the corridor project work was undertaken and Rs 17 crores were sanctioned when the project itself was not cleared by the statutory authorities.
The state and the Centre have been directed by the Supreme Court to complete the departmental action against these officials within a stipulated time of four months. Following this, the UP government suspended Bagga, Gupta and Punia on September 28. Mishra and Sharma were suspended earlier.
CBI alleged that start of project work was approved by Mayawati and reeled out information on the alleged roles of Siddiqi and other officials in the irregularities and malpractices committed in the construction of the project.
Construction work of the project, envisaging to link Taj Mahal with four other monuments - Agra Fort, Itmad-ud-Daula, Chini-ka-Roja and Rambagh, was started on verbal orders of Sharma and NPCC had unauthorisedly sub-contracted the work to a firm, Ikshwaku, the CBI alleged. Bureau Report
Among the bureaucrats Bagga, Punia and Sharma were put under suspension by the Mulayam Singh Yadav government while similar action was taken against Gupta by Mayawati in connection with the case.
The FIR lodged in a CBI court here against Mayawati and seven others came three weeks after the apex court directed CBI to take such an action for their alleged involvement in the scam. The CBI began probe into irregularities in clearance to the Rs 175- crore high-profile case following a Supreme Court order of July 16.
After considering three different probe reports submitted by the CBI, an apex court bench comprising Justice M B Shah and Justice B N Agrawal had on September 18 concluded that registration of FIRs were necessary for carrying out further investigations as to how the corridor project work was undertaken and Rs 17 crores were sanctioned when the project itself was not cleared by the statutory authorities.
The state and the Centre have been directed by the Supreme Court to complete the departmental action against these officials within a stipulated time of four months. Following this, the UP government suspended Bagga, Gupta and Punia on September 28. Mishra and Sharma were suspended earlier.
CBI alleged that start of project work was approved by Mayawati and reeled out information on the alleged roles of Siddiqi and other officials in the irregularities and malpractices committed in the construction of the project.
Construction work of the project, envisaging to link Taj Mahal with four other monuments - Agra Fort, Itmad-ud-Daula, Chini-ka-Roja and Rambagh, was started on verbal orders of Sharma and NPCC had unauthorisedly sub-contracted the work to a firm, Ikshwaku, the CBI alleged. Bureau Report