Lucknow: A special PMLA court here has issued summons to former Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister Gayatri Prajapati to face trial in a money laundering case linked to possession of alleged disproportionate assets, saying he was the "ultimate beneficiary" of assets acquired out of the proceeds of crime.
In an order issued on Monday by the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court of sessions judge Sarvesh Kumar, Prajapati has been asked to depose before it on October 4.
The zonal office of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had filed a charge sheet, also called the prosecution complaint under various sections of the PMLA, against Prajapati and others in April.
The agency has been probing the former legislator, who held the mining portfolio in the Samajwadi Party government led by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, on money laundering charges in a case linked to alleged possession of disproportionate assets.
"There are specific allegations against accused Gayatri Prasad Prajapati that he has expended Rs 2,98,25,511 more against his income from known and legal sources which is exponentially disproportionate while he was working as public servant," the court said.
In addition, there are prima facie evidences of acquiring benami properties by him. All the cash deposits in the bank accounts of his family members and companies wherein they were directors were made on his instance," the court said.
It added that "major decisions relating to the affairs of the companies were taken by him and he held a tight control over the day-to-day affairs of the company."