Illegal mining scam: ED starts PMLA probe against ex-UP minister Gayatri Prajapati, four IAS officers
New Delhi: The ED has initiated a money-laundering probe against former Samajwadi Party minister in the Akhilesh Yadav government, Gayatri Prasad Prajapati, in connection with the illegal sand mining scam in the state.
The Enforcement Directorate has started the investigation under provisions for the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, after taking cognizance of CBI's recent FIRs in the case.
This move from the financial probe agency comes on the back of the cases the CBI registered in connection with irregularities in the way mining leases were issued and renewed in Fatehpur and Deoria districts of Uttar Pradesh.
The ED's probe will also look at the alleged involvement of at least four IAS officers, who were holding related public office, during the time of the incident. The civil servants part of the probe include Jiwesh Nandan (UP: 1985), then Principal Secretary of Mining and Geology; Santosh Kumar (UP: 2005), then Special Secretary of Mining and Geology; Abhay (UP: 2007), then District Magistrate of Fatehpur; and Vivek (UP: 2009), then District Magistrate of Deoria.
When the CBI registered the case in June this year and raided his premises, Abhay was the DM of Bulanshahr district.
The Central Bureau of Investigation had booked Prajapati, then Mining Minister in the UP government and conducted raids at 12 places.
According to the CBI, two private persons - Shiv Singh and Sukhraj Singh had conspired with senior officials of the Geology and Mining Ministry in the UP government at the time, including then Mining Minister Prajapati, Nandan, Kumar, and then DM of Fatehpur, Abhay to renew up to three mining leases. Similar allegations were levelled against the public officials in case of renewing mining leases in Deoria district. The ED has now registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), the equivalent of an FIR, to probe possible instances of money-laundering.
While this was the first time that Prajapati was named as an accused in the illegal mining case, the CBI had earlier raided three of his premises in Amethi in connection with another illegal mining case in Hamirpur district. The agency had formed an SIT to probe allegations of illegal mining in Uttar Pradesh during Akhilesh Yadav's tenure as CM following an Allahabad High Court directive. The High Court had ordered the probe after hearing a PIL in the matter. Subsequently, the CBI had opened seven preliminary enquiries pertaining to alleged irregularities in awarding and renewing of mining licenses in Fatehpur, Deoria, Kausambhi, Shamli, Hamirpur, and two other districts.
The corruption allegation pertaining to Hamirpur district shed light on alleged involvement of IAS officer B Chandrakala, against the whom the ED had already initiated a PMLA probe.
While the latest FIRs relate to mining lease irregularities in Fatehpur and Deoria, the CBI had converted three other PEs into FIRs earlier; two in 2017 and one in January 2019.
