CBI raids premises of ex-IAS officer in illegal mining case

Lucknow, Feb 3 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has conducted raids on the premises of retired IAS officer Satyendra Singh and nine others in Lucknow and Kaushambi in connection with illegal mining between 2012 and 2014.The raids were conducted on Tuesday.The CBI also filed a case of dishonesty, theft and criminal conspiracy against Satyendra Singh, the then district magistrate of Kaushambi and nine others under the Prevention of Corruption Act.The CBI officials said that Singh was accused of awarding two fresh leases and renewing nine existing leases to the accused to facilitate illegal mining in Kaushambhi.Singh did not follow e-tendering procedure as mentioned in the orders of May 2012.Sources in the CBI said several incriminating documents were recovered during the raids on the premises of the retired IAS officer in Lucknow and Kaushambi.”Documents relating to 44 immovable properties, Rs 10 lakh cash, fixed deposits worth Rs 51 lakh and around 36 bank accounts, in the name of Singh and his family members in Lucknow, Kanpur, Ghaziabad and New Delhi were found during the raid which ended late on Tuesday,” an official said.Keys of six lockers were found in which gold and silver jewellery worth Rs 2.1 crore and old currency notes worth Rs 1 lakh were found.Besides Singh, other persons who have been booked by CBI are Nepali Nishad, Nar Narain Mishra, Ramakant Dwivedi, Khemraj Singh, Ram Pratap Singh, Munni Lal, Shiv Prakash Singh, Ram Abhilash and Yogendra Singh.Earlier, in June 2017, the CBI had lodged an FIR against 10 people, including assistant geologist in Kaushambi, Arvind Kumar, in connection with illegal mining in 2015-16.Action in cases of illegal mining began after the Allahabad High Court took cognizance of a public interest litigation (PIL) petition in July 2016 and issued directives for a CBI probe into illegal mining and plunder of natural resources in the state.Acting on court’s order, the special crime division (III) of CBI’s Delhi unit shortlisted seven districts — Shamli, Hamirpur, Fatehpur, Siddhartha Nagar, Deoria, Kaushambi and Saharanpur — for investigation.–IANSamita/dpb