'BJP's new ally is CBI': BSP over probe on illegal mining

Lucknow, Jan 7: Asking how can Akhilesh Yadav be held responsible if an officer violated the law, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) took a jibe at the BJP-led Centre and said the safron party's new alliance is with the CBI which is probing the illegal mining case.

Amid reports that the CBI is likely to quiz Akhilesh Yadav in the illegal mining case, the Samajwadi Party chief had on Sunday said he is ready to face the probe agency.

In a joint press briefing with the Samajwadi Party, BSP's General Secretary SC Mishra said, "In land-mafia case FIR is against the officer, that officer violated law made by government in allotment process, how does that make then chief minister Akhilesh Yadav Ji responsible for it? Their (BJP) partners are leaving them, their new alliance is with CBI."

The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister may face a probe by the CBI, according to the agency FIR made public on Saturday, the day arch rivals SP and BSP indicated their intent to join hands to counter the BJP in 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is probing the illegal mining that took place between 2012 and 2016 in Uttar Pradesh, may examine Akhilesh Yadav's role as he was the chief minister during this period

The CBI carried out searches at 14 locations on Saturday in connection with its FIR against 11 persons including IAS officer B Chandrakala, Samajwadi Party MLC Ramesh Kumar Mishra and Sanjay Dixit (who unsuccessfully contested the 2017 assembly election on a BSP ticket) to probe alleged illegal mining of minor minerals in Hamirpur district during 2012-16. Yadav, who was the chief minister of the state between 2012 and 2017, held the mining portfolio during 2012-13 apparently bringing his role under scanner, according to the FIR.

He was succeeded by Gayatri Prajapati, who took charge as mining minister in 2013 and was arrested in 2017 following a complaint of rape by a woman residing in Chitrakoot. This is a third FIR pertaining to illegal mining cases which were registered by the agency on January 2, 2019, nearly two-and-a-half year after it was directed by the Allahabad High Court to probe the issue.