Case against Mayawati in Taj scam dropped,BSP decision on Prez soon

Lucknow, June 5 (UNI) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati today earned a major reprieve when a CBI court hearing the multi-crore Taj Heritage Corridor (THC) scam dropped proceedings against her after Governor T V Rajeswar refused sanction for her prosecution.

Earlier today, the CBI had informed the special court (Anti-Corruption) that the Governor has refused his sanction to prosecute the Bahujan Samaj Party chief and state minister Nasim-u-ddin Siddique. But at the same time, proceedings against four other accused would continue.

Elated over the development, the BSP supremo held a hurriedly convened press conference at which she announced that she would reveal her party's position on the Presidential candidate in a day or two.

She said she was holding back her party's decision on the Presidential candidate's name due to the Taj Heritage Corridor (THC) case pending in the CBI court. ''Since the proceedings against me have been dropped, I will announce the BSP's decision in a couple of days,'' she said.

Claiming that the party was holding back the decision as it wanted to dispel speculations that the matter had anything to do with the THC case, she said she would make the announcement with regard to Presidential candidate in New Delhi.

She, however, refused to give any hint about her party's position on the issue while making it clear that the choice of presidential candidate would be independent of today's court decision.

In view of the absence of the permission to prosecute Ms Mayawati, the THC case posted for hearing by a special CBI court (anti-corruption) today, was deferred till July 5.

The decision is being seen as a setback to the CBI.

The CBI had investigated the case and collected evidence against Ms Mayawati, state cabinet minister Naseem-ud-din Siddiqui and four others. On February 15, 2007, the central agency had submitted its report and all the evidence in the court of special CBI court (anti-corruption) judge Rekha Dikshit.

The CBI had earlier prayed for the UP Governor's consent to proceed against the accused in the case.

UNI