NEW DELHI: With just two weeks left for the Lok Sabha elections, the Supreme Court on Monday has asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for a status report on the disproportionate assets case against Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav and his father Mulayam Singh Yadav.
During the hearing on Monday, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said, “We want to know what has happened to this case? There is a status report of 2007. What has happened? We would like to know whether the case is registered?”
The bench directed the investigating agency to file its status report within two weeks.The court was hearing a petition by Vishwanath Chaturvedi, who had sought a direction to the CBI to file its probe report in the assets case either before the top court or before a magisterial court.
In 2015, Chaturvedi had filed the petition in the top court seeking a direction to the CBI to take appropriate action to prosecute Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh, his wife Dimple Yadav and Mulayam’s younger son Prateek Yadav, under the Prevention of Corruption Act for allegedly acquiring assets more than the known sources of their income by misusing their power and authority.
On March 1, 2007, the apex court had ordered a CBI inquiry against Mulayam, Akhilesh, Prateek and Dimple.In December 2012, the court had directed the CBI to go ahead with the probe against Mulayam and Akhilesh while dropping the investigation against Dimple.
On the basis of income tax returns and documents of the Yadav family members, the disproportionate assets were calculated at `2.63 crore, the petition said.The plea further contended , “The unusual delay in filing regular cases against the offenders has not only caused some irremediable and irrecoverable damaged to the whole case, but also raised serious questions of credibility and integrity of our investigating agencies.”