By IANS
New Delhi/Lucknow : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Friday raided several offices and residences across Uttar Pradesh as part of its effort to unearth irregularities in the allotment of 600 high-value plots in Noida town, a suburb of the national capital.
CBI teams searched the offices and residences of at least 17 senior and junior officials associated with the land plot allotments made in 2005 under the then Samajwadi Party government headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Besides the offices of the Noida administration, the probe agency also searched the offices of Lucknow-based Uttar Pradesh Development Systems Corporation (UPDESCO), which was engaged to carry out the computerised allotments of plots.
“Among the officers whose offices were raided are D.S Pathik, then managing director of UPDSCO, R.S. Yadav, officer on special duty of residential plots scheme in Noida, Lorek Yadav, then chief financial account officer of Noida Development Authority, and Tanwar Jaffar Ali, then deputy chief executive officer of the same agency,” a senior CBI official told IANS here.
“No arrest was made but incriminating documents, a laptop computer, CDs and pen drives relating to the case have been recovered and are under scrutiny,” the official added.
The CBI sources in Lucknow said that most of the allotments were made either to rich or highly influential people, including ministers, members of parliament, legislators, judges and high officials, which naturally aroused suspicion about some internal manipulations.
“Three of the plots went to the family members of then Chief Justice of India Y.K. Sabharwal,” the official told IANS in Lucknow.
The Allahabad High Court, on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed in 2005, ordered a CBI inquiry into the allotments. However, the Mulayam Singh Yadav government moved a special appeal before the Supreme Court, which stayed the high court order on Nov 22, 2007.
The state government had then said it was appointing a judicial commission to look into the complaint of the alleged irregularities.
With the change of government in Uttar Pradesh, the new administration led by Chief Minister Mayawati sought re-opening of the CBI probe in the allotments. The Supreme Court vacated the stay at the end of October last year.
“Our stand is straight and simple – if irregularities have been committed, then the guilty must be brought to book. And which agency can do that in a more impartial manner than CBI?” said Shailesh Krishna, principal secretary to the chief minister.
According to CBI officials in New Delhi, the raids began Friday morning at the office of the Noida administration.
“Raids were conducted at 20 places to probe charges that officials of Noida, UPDESCO and state government have entered into a criminal conspiracy in connection with the allotment of residential plots by falsifying electronic records knowingly or intentionally altering the computer ‘source code’ developed for the draw of the lots,” a senior CBI official told IANS.
“The code was altered for framing an incorrect document with certain pre-decided applicants listed as successful applicants under the residential plot scheme for which the draw was held on July 2, 2005,” the official added.