By IANS,
Lucknow : The Akhilesh Yadav-led Uttar Pradesh government is learnt to have given the go-ahead to the police to ‘bury’ a money laundering case against Amar Singh, former leader of ruling Samajwadi Party (SP), official sources and a petitioner in the case said Friday.
The previous Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government had slapped the case against the Rajya Sabha member in 2009.
Following the go-ahead, police in Kanpur district, where the case was filed, have reportedly filed a closure report in the court of district judge O.P. Verma.
Shivkant Tripathi, on whose complaint a first information report against Amar Singh was filed in Babupurwa police station, confirmed the development.
He said the move had been brought to his knowledge but since lawyers were on a flash strike Friday, he would file an appeal against the closure report Saturday.
In the FIR lodged Oct 15, 2009, Tripathi had alleged that during the tenure of then chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, Amar Singh opened fake companies and was involved in large-scale irregularities as chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Developmental Council.
But, according to the complaint, since the matter involved funding of more than Rs.25,000, the government, then led by chief minister Mayawati, handed over the probe to the police’s economic offences wing (EoW).
Later, the Allahabad High Court stayed Amar Singh’s arrest but directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in May last year to probe the matter. ED submitted its report before the court last month.
Official sources said the matter was taken off EoW late last month and handed over to Babupurwa police station which was directed to file a closure report.
The move is being seen as a sign of thawing in the relationship between friends-turned-foes Amar Singh and Mulayam Singh Yadav.
While not many are ready to believe that Amar Singh could be on his way back to SP, sources hinted at “some movement” in this direction.