JOIN USMaya confidante lands in trouble amid elections
In a setback to UP chief minister and BSP supremo Mayawati in the middle of the Assembly polls, the state Lokayukta has recommended a CBI probe into charges of amassing wealth by her close confidante and PWD minister Naseemuddin Siddique.
Lokayukta Justice (retd) N K Mehrotra on Wednesday, in a report to Mayawati, said the allegations should be probed by CBI and the Enforcement Directorate.
Mehrotra, according to sources, has said there was prima facie evidence against the minister that he had amassed wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income. The Lokayukta had been approached by a local scribe, Jagadish Narain Shukla, with a complaint against Siddique.
The complainant alleged that Siddique had been granted huge tracts of land in Barabanki district for his education society. The value of the land, which was worth crore of rupees, had been shown a meagre Rs 32 lakh.
He also claimed that the minister had bought large tracts of lands in Barabanki and Fatehpur districts worth several crore of rupees. The minister’s relative were also in controversy earlier, following allegations of receiving tractors on subsidised prices under the Bundelkhand package.
The development comes as a setback for Mayawati, who has made corruption one of the major issues in her election speeches and has been attacking the Congress on this count.
Siddique is not the only minister who had been indicted by Lokayukta. Mayawati had sacked over a dozen of her Cabinet colleagues, following their indictment by Lokayukta.