The CBI has summoned Samajwadi Party president and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav as a “witness” to record his statement on Thursday in illegal mining cases registered five years ago.
The cases pertain to the issuance of mining leases in alleged violation of e-tendering process. The Allahabad High Court had ordered the probe.
It is alleged that public servants allowed illegal mining during 2012-16, the period when Yadav was chief minister, and illegally renewed licences despite a ban by the National Green Tribunal on mining.
In a notice issued under section 160 of CrPC, the agency has asked Yadav to appear before it on February 29, officials said. The section allows a police officer to summon witnesses in a probe.
“He is not the accused. He is a witness,” a senior official in the know of the development told news agency.
Reacting to the notice in the cases registered in 2019, Yadav attacked the BJP and linked the CBI move with the approaching elections.
“The SP is on the maximum target (of the BJP). In 2019, I got a notice in some matter as there was Lok Sabha elections then. Now, when the election is approaching again, I am getting a notice again,” Yadav told Times Now Navbharat’s ‘Navbharat Navnirman Manch’ programme in Lucknow.
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