HC seeks report on probe into Mayawati memorials

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, September 20

In a major setback to BSP president Mayawati, the Allahabad High Court has asked the Uttar Pradesh Government to submit a status report of the vigilance inquiry ordered into the irregularities in building memorials during her party’s rule.

The court has fixed September 27 as the next date of hearing. Responding to a petition filed by one Shashikant alias Bhavesh Pandey, the Division Bench of Chief Justice DB Bhonsale and Justice Yeshwant Verma said no person guilty in the scam should be allowed to go scot free.

The case, opening up so close to the three Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan polls as well as the Lok Sabha polls where Mayawati is a key contestant, is being seen as major jolt for the BSP.

The irregularities mentioned in the petition relate to the period between 2007 and 2012 when Mayawati was at the helm of affairs in the state and was instrumental in the building of several memorials dedicated to social reformers in Lucknow and Noida.

Besides the BSP supremo, the other co-accused in the scam are former ministers Naseemuddin Siddiqui and Babu Singh Kushwaha as well as a dozen odd former legislators.

It also lists about 100 engineers and officials of PWD, Lucknow and Noida development authorities, Rajkiya Nirman Nigam and other government agencies. The FIR in the scam was registered in 2014, but the pace of investigations has been slow.

An initial probe by the Lokayukta had found irregularities worth Rs 1,400 crore in the building of memorials.