The anti-corruption teams of the CBI have simultaneously raided the capital Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, Ghaziabad, Bareilly, Gautam Budh Nagar, Sitapur, Bulandshahr, Agra, Rae Bareilly, Etawah and several districts of West Bengal and Rajasthan.
During the tenure of Akhilesh Yadav’s government in Uttar Pradesh, the CBI has intensified its investigation in the big scam in Lucknow. In the Gomti River Front scam of about Rs 1800 crore in Lucknow, the Anti-Corruption Branch of CBI has raided several districts of Uttar Pradesh as well as West Bengal and Rajasthan.
The Anti-Corruption Branch of CBI Lucknow has registered a new case against 190 people including the then Superintending Engineer Roop Singh Yadav, Shivmangal Yadav, Chief Engineer Kazim Ali, Assistant Engineer Sushil Kumar Yadav after preliminary investigation in the Gomti Riverfront scam. After registering this case, CBI formed several teams and started extensive search operation at 42 places in Alwar in Rajasthan and Kolkata in West Bengal along with 13 districts of Uttar Pradesh. The campaign, which started early Monday, is on and may be extended during the day.CBI officials said that 190 officials of the Uttar Pradesh government and others, including the then engineers, have been accused in the FIR. CBI has registered a second FIR in the Gomti River Front scam.
The anti-corruption teams of CBI have simultaneously raided the capital Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, Ghaziabad, Bareilly, Gautam Budh Nagar, Sitapur, Bulandshahr, Agra, Rae Bareli, Etawah and several districts of West Bengal and Rajasthan. In Lucknow, a new case has been registered against 190 people in a scam of about 1800 crores. Among them are politicians, businessmen and IAS officers and engineers. The Anti-Corruption Team of CBI has raided several locations of half a dozen accused in the Gomti Riverfront scam.Teams are busy scrutinizing the papers. As this matter is very serious, no stone is being left unturned.
In Uttar Pradesh, the work of beautification of Gomti river was done in Lucknow during the Chief Ministership of Akhilesh Yadav. It was planned to be decorated on the lines of Sabarmati River Front of Gujarat. The Samajwadi Party government had sanctioned 1513 crores for the Gomti River Front. In this, even after the release of Rs 1437 crore, only 60 percent work was done. During this time, the institutions working for the river front did not complete the work even after spending 95 percent of the budget.
There are many serious allegations against the engineers associated with the construction work of Gomti River Front. Engineers have been accused of giving work to tainted companies, buying expensive goods from abroad, scam in channelization work, scam in financial transactions including extravagance in foreign visits of politicians and officials and not getting the work done according to the map.
In this case, the CBI and ED are investigating by registering a case against eight engineers with the police. It includes the then Chief Engineer Golesh Chandra Garg, SN Sharma, Kazim Ali, Shivmangal Singh, Kamleshwar Singh, Roop Singh Yadav, Surendra Yadav. All these are engineers of the Irrigation Department, against whom the investigation is going on.
Many close leaders of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav are also accused in this scam. It is alleged that the terms of the tender were changed to award the contract to the defaulting company. About 800 tenders were floated in this big project, whose authority was given to the Chief Engineer. In May 2017, its judicial inquiry headed by retired judge Alok Kumar Singh revealed many lapses. After this, on the basis of the report, the Yogi Adityanath government had recommended a CBI inquiry.
CBI teams raided Uttar Pradesh in the early hours. The team has reached the house of Roop Singh Yadav, the then Executive Engineer of Irrigation Department in Shivalik Apartment in Ghaziabad, in several vehicles. There is a raid going on here. In the river front scam in Bulandshahr, the house of Preet Vihar, the residence of Rakesh Bhati, a member of the Pradesh Congress Committee, was raided. The CBI team reached Vijay Nagar Colony, the house of BJP leader Nitin Gupta in Agra.Nitin Gupta previously held a high position in the Samajwadi Party. He has a firm by the name of Anupama Trading Company. It did the work of stoning the river front.
In Etawah river front scam, CBI raided the house of contractor Puneet Agarwal in Chogurji city. Puneet Agarwal is said to be very close to former minister Shivpal Yadav. A six-member team of CBI reached Puneet Agarwal’s house in the morning. This team has examined the contract papers of Puneet Agarwal. In 2012-13, Puneet had done the work of building a canal on the river front. Puneet Aggarwal told that he is not in Etawah at present, he is out, he has already given all the papers to CBI.
