CBI Summons Akhilesh Yadav as Witness in 2019 Mining Case Investigation

CBI Summons Akhilesh Yadav as Witness in 2019 Mining Case Investigation

In a 2019 investigation into the suspected illicit mining of minor minerals in the Hamirpur district, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has summoned former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav, according to sources acquainted with the matter on Wednesday. Yadav has been invited by the agency to testify as a “witness” before it on Thursday, according to officials. Under Section 160 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), a summons has been issued in order to record witnesses or anyone with knowledge of specific statements.

To look into claims of unlawful mining of minor minerals in Hamirpur district, the federal agency filed a case in January 2019 against 11 people, including B Chandrakala, an IAS official from Uttar Pradesh, former SP leader Ramesh Kumar Mishra, and Sanjay Dixit, who ran for state office in 2017 on the BSP ticket. As part of its seven preliminary inquiries (PEs) filed in 2017 after the Allahabad High Court’s decision, the agency was looking into illicit mining in the districts of Shamli, Hamirpur, Saharanpur, Deoria, Fatehpur, Siddharth Nagar, and Kaushambi in Uttar Pradesh. Three full investigative reports (FIRs) were filed in January 2019.

The function of the then-mining ministers in question throughout the pertinent era may be examined during the case inquiry, according to the CBI’s FIR. Between 2012 and 2016, it has been alleged that state government officials colluded with private individuals in the alleged illicit mining of minor minerals by awarding new leases, extending those that already existed, and allowing the current leaseholders to have an obstructed period, all without adhering to the e-tendering procedure that the UP government had mandated in its order dated May 31, 2012.

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To commit theft and extort money from leaseholders and the drivers of the vehicles transporting the minor minerals—stones, gravel, clay, and sand, which are classified as government property under the Mines and Minerals (development and regulation) Act of 1957—the accused parties permitted the excavation of minor minerals as part of their conspiracy. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) had banned mining, but the CBI claimed that all of this was still being done.