CBI summons Akhilesh Yadav in illegal mining case | Everything you need to know about the case

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday summoned Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav in the illegal mining case in Uttar Pradesh.

Akhilesh Yadav

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday asked former Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav to appear before the agency in a Supreme Court-referred case related to sand mining. The former UP chief minister has been asked to participate as a witness in the probe before the CBI in Delhi on February 29.

A notice has been issued under Section 160 of CrPC. This section allows a police officer to call witnesses in an investigation. The case concerns the issuance of mining leases in alleged violation of the e-tendering process. The Allahabad High Court had ordered the probe.

Everything you need to know about the case

It is alleged that officials allowed illegal mining during 2012-2016, when Yadav was chief minister, and illegally extended permits despite a National Green Tribunal ban on mining.
It is alleged that the officers allowed mineral thefts and extorted money from tenants and drivers.
The CBI had filed seven preliminary investigations in 2016 on the directions of the Allahabad High Court to probe the case of illegal mining of minor minerals.
The agency claimed that then Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s office had approved 13 projects in a single day, officials said.
They said Yadav, who also owned the mining portfolio for some time, had entered into 14 leases, 13 of which were on February 17, 2013, in violation of the e-tendering process.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) alleged that the leases were granted by Hamirpur District Magistrate B. Chandrakala on February 17, 2013, after obtaining approval from the Chief Minister’s Office, in violation of its 2012 e-tender policy, which had been ratified by the Allahabad High Court on January 29 that year.
The CBI had in January 2019 in connection with its FIR conducted searches at 14 locations against 11 people, including IAS officer B Chandrakala, Samajwadi Party MLC Ramesh Kumar Mishra and Sanjay Dixit (who unsuccessfully contested the 2017 Assembly elections on a BSP ticket ) to investigate alleged illegal mining of minor minerals in Hamirpur district during 2012-2016.
Yadav, who was the chief minister of the state between 2012 and 2017, held the mining portfolio during 2012-2013, apparently putting his role under scrutiny, the FIR said.
He was succeeded by Gayatri Prajapati, who took charge as mines minister in 2013 and was arrested in 2017 following a rape complaint by a woman living in Chitrakoot.