LUCKNOW: BSP chief Mayawati may be in trouble as the Allahabad High Court on Thursday directed the Uttar Pradesh government to furnish the status report on the vigilance department’s probe in connection with the alleged Rs 1,410-crore memorial scam during the BSP regime.
The high court, after hearing a PIL filed by Shashikant alias Bhavesh Pandey of Mirzapur, posted the matter for hearing on September 27.
It asked the government to produce the details of the FIR filed in the case within a week.
Through the PIL, the litigant has alleged that there has been a scam of Rs 1,410 crore in the construction of a number of memorials including Ambedkar Parivartan Sthal, Eco Park, Kanshi Ram Memorial, Ramabai Memorial ground, Gautam Buddh Garden in Lucknow and Ambedkar park in Noida.
Notably, the then Uttar Pradesh Lokayukta NK Mehrotra had also indicted former ministers Naseemuddin Siddiqui and Babu Singh Kushwaha along with 197 others for ‘wrong-doings’ in the purchase of sandstone for the Dalit memorials in Lucknow and Noida during Mayawati’s regime from 2007 to 2012.
The Lokayukta exonerated Mayawati for lack of evidence in his report which he had handed over to former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.