Explained: UP illegal mining case and why CBI is at Akhilesh’s door

With the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday (February 28) issuing summons to Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav to join a probe in the illegal mining case, the spotlight is again on the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister’s tenure during which the scam unfolded.

The CBI issued the summons under Section 160 of CrPC, which empowers a police officer to call witnesses to depose before him or her during a probe. The central agency has asked Akhilesh Yadav to depose before it on Thursday (February 29).

The Federal brings to you some nuggets of information on the scam and what it entails for the SP chief.

What is the case?

It is alleged that mining leases were issued in violation of the e-tender process and government officials allowed illegal mining of minor minerals in Hamirpur district of Uttar Pradesh. The officials, it is alleged, also extorted money from lease-holders and drivers while allowing the theft of minerals from the leased mines.

The leases were issued despite a ban on mining by the National Green Tribunal.

When did the scam happen?

The illegal mining scam unfolded between 2012 and 2016 when the SP chief was the Chief Minister. The scam came to light in July 2016 after the Allahabad High Court, hearing a public interest petition, ordered a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities and theft of minerals.

The CBI filed seven preliminary inquiry reports to the high court even as the agency shortlisted seven districts, including Shamli, Hamirpur, Fatehpur, Siddharthnagar, Deoria, Kaushambi, and Saharanpur, to widen its probe.

Needle of suspicion

Yadav's office, it is alleged, sanctioned 13 mining projects for Hamirpur when he held the additional charge of the mining department in 2013. These projects were cleared in a single day on February 17 that year, allegedly in violation of the e-tendering process.

B Chandrakala, the then district magistrate of Hamirpur, granted the leases after she was given a go-ahead by the chief minister’s office.

This brought Akhilesh Yadav’s role under the CBI scanner.

Who were involved?

As the inquest progressed, the CBI registered an FIR against IAS Chandrakala and SP MLC Ramesh Kumar Mishra in January 2019. In its FIR, the CBI submitted that the role of a minister should be investigated.

The agency also registered five FIRs against 44 persons, including six IAS officers and former mining minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati, between 2017 and 2019 in Shamli, Hamirpur, Fatehpur, Kaushambi, and Deoria. Prajapati succeeded Yadav as the mining minister in 2013.

The names of the five other IAS officers involved in the multi-crore scam were never revealed.

When did ED chip in?

After the CBI’s Delhi unit filed an FIR in the case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) also moved in and lodged two FIRs against Prajapati, who is in jail on rape charges, and IAS officers under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in 2019. However, not much is known about its probe.

The CBI notice to Akhilesh Yadav, whose party is an important constituent of the INDIA bloc, has raised eyebrows in political circles.