The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday summoned Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav in the Uttar Pradesh Illegal Mining Case.

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

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

All You Need To Know About The Case

• It is alleged that public servants allowed illegal mining during 2012-16, when Yadav was chief minister, and illegally renewed licences despite a ban by the National Green Tribunal on mining.
• It is alleged that the officers allowed theft of minerals, extorted money from lease-holders and drivers.
• The CBI had filed seven preliminary enquiries in 2016 on the directions of the Allahabad High Court to probe the case of illegal mining of minor minerals.
• The agency had alleged that the then chief minister Akhilesh Yadav’s office had cleared 13 projects in a single day, officials said.
• They had said Yadav, who also held the mining portfolio for sometime, had cleared 14 leases, of which 13 were cleared on February 17, 2013, in violation of the e-tendering process.
• The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) claimed that on February 17, 2013, the leases were granted by the district magistrate of Hamirpur, B Chandrakala, after getting approval from the chief minister’s office in violation of its 2012 e-tender policy, which was ratified by the Allahabad High Court on January 29 that year.
• The CBI had carried out searches at 14 locations in January 2019 in connection with its FIR against 11 people, 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 the 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.