LUCKNOW: A petitioner who had filed a disproportionate assets case against Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday put the central government also in the dock for not sending the duo to jail.
"If the government really wants to take action against the corrupt, then it should be taken against the entire Mulayam Singh Yadav family instead of raiding places of their close ones," Supreme Court advocate Vishwanath Chaturvedi said at a press conference here.
He was alluding to Income Tax raids recently on a senior SP leader and three close associates of Akhilesh Yadav.
Chaturvedi alleged that the CBI was misleading the court in the case by filing false affidavits and it was spread in the media on the basis of one of its reports that the case against the Yadav family is over even though the matter is still pending in court.
In the disproportionate assets case filed against the Yadav clan, the CBI is saying that it has closed the case back in 2013, he said.
"If so, then there will be some report on it. In such a situation, the petitioner must get that report. But the CBI has not provided any such report so far," the advocate said.
Chaturvedi said the CBI says that it has closed the case and sent the closure report to the Central Vigilance Commission, whereas in the information sought from the commission under the Right to Information Act, it was told that the commission has not received any such report.
The CBI had in April 2019 told the Supreme Court that it had closed the preliminary investigation against Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son Akhilesh Yadav in the disproportionate assets case in 2013.
In 2005, Chaturvedi had complained against SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav, his son Akhilesh Yadav and daughter-in-law Dimple Yadav in a disproportionate assets case.
In this case, he had filed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a CBI probe after which the Supreme Court ordered the CBI to investigate the matter in 2007.
Chaturvedi alleged that the Yadav family has been getting protection since 2007 in lieu of supporting the central governments.
Instead of raiding the premises of those close to the Yadav family, action should be taken directly against them, he said.
Chaturvedi, while talking to reporters, also alleged that the CBI has valued various properties worth crores of rupees of the family at throwaway prices, while the apex court had asked the CBI to get these properties evaluated by an independent chartered accountant and engineer.