After Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, the Enforcement Directorate has started tightening its noose around Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati. In a major move, the ED on Thursday conducted raids at seven places in Lucknow and Noida in connection with alleged fund irregularities in the construction of 14 memorials during the tenure of Mayawati as the chief minister.
The probe, which has been lying in cold storage for quite a while, has now picked up momentum. The ED team conducted raids at the houses of engineers and contractors who were associated with construction of the monuments and parks between 2007 and 2012.
The case was registered in 2012 after Akhilesh Yadav came to power and ordered a Lokayukta probe. After the initial inquiry by the Lokayukta, the government asked the state vigilance department to go ahead with an investigation in the case.
At present, the state vigilance department and the ED have been simultaneously conducting the probe into the Rs 1,400-crore scam. The vigilance department had lodged an FIR in Gomti Nagar police station about five years ago. However, because of the slow pace of probe, no arrests have been made so far.
Two prominent ministers in Mayawati’s regime—Naseemuddin Siddiqui and Babu Singh Kushwaha—and about 30 engineers are on the radar of the probing agencies. Both the ministers later left the BSP.
If the fresh raids are any indication of the probe gathering steam, it may compound the BSP chief's trouble.
Akhilesh Yadav has been facing heat in a ‘mining scam' that had taken place during his tenure between 2012 and 2016.
Both the SP and the BSP have announced their tie-up in Uttar Pradesh for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, sharing 38 seats each.
