LUCKNOW:More trouble is in store for former Samajwadi Party government as well as some IAS officers, including B Chandrakala, as Enforcement Directorate(ED) sleuths are preparing to register a formal case of money laundering in connection with siphoning off money earned through illegal mining in Uttar Pradesh.

Though the CBI is probing the mining scam since 2017 it registered the FIR only on January 2, 2019 and conducted raids on the premises of the accussed on January 5 hours after the SP and BSP entered into an alliance for parliamentary polls.

The CBI, in its FIR in the minning scam has named 11 persons, including UP cadre IPS officer B Chandrakala, SP MLC Ramesh Kumar Mishra and Sanjay Dixit. The ED has started its investigation on money trail which is alleged to have been mde as proceeds of crime from the mining scam.

The ED, after registering a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, will investigate whether the money has been spent overseas or the black money has been siphoned off out of the country and later brought back and track alleged proceeds of crime in up mining scam during the period of Smajwadi Party (SP) government led by then CM Akhilesh Yadav.

The ED case is based on the FIR registered by CBI earlier this month in which it has said that the role of then mining minister concerned during the relevant period may be looked into during the course of the investigation of the case.

Both ED and CBI are probing alleged connivance of the state government officials with the private individuals in the alleged illegal mining between 2012 and 2016 by granting fresh leases a renewing existing lease without following the e-tendering procedure as mandated by the rules. The other SP leader who was the mining minister during the period of the alleged scam is Gayatri Parsad, currently in prison in a rape case.

  Central Bureau of Investigation CBI, scam, Uttar Pradesh