The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday cleared Samajwadi Party leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav in the disproportionate assets case registered against them, ANI reported.
In a fresh affidavit, the agency informed the Supreme Court that it had conducted a preliminary inquiry and found that the allegations against the Yadavs could not be substantiated, according to Hindustan Times. “No prima facie evidence of commission of offence was found during the inquiry and the inquiry was not converted into an FIR,” the affidavit said.
The agency said it did not find evidence to register a regular case and had informed the Central Vigilance Commission as well, reported Live Law. In April, the CBI had told the Supreme Court that it had closed its preliminary inquiry in the case in 2013.
The affidavit said the Supreme Court had not directed it to register a criminal case and instead asked it to take an independent decision based on the evidence.
The CBI’s response came after the Supreme Court, on March 25, asked the investigative agency to submit a status report in two weeks on the 2007 case. “We want to know what has happened to this case?” the top court had asked the CBI. “There is a status report of 2007. What has happened? We would like to know whether the case is registered?”
Congress leader Vishwanath Chaturvedi had filed a plea seeking the status of the inquiry and contending that no action has been taken in the case for over 11 years. He alleged that a first information report has not been registered against the Yadavs, raising “questions of credibility and integrity of our investigating agencies”.
Mulayam Singh Yadav had filed an affidavit in court and said that the petition was politically motivated as it was filed close to the Lok Sabha polls.
The disproportionate assets case dates back to 2005, when Chaturvedi filed a public interest litigation before the Supreme Court asking it to order a CBI inquiry against the Yadav patriarch, his two sons and Dimple Yadav, wife of Akhilesh Yadav, under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Chaturvedi alleged that they had acquired assets disproportionate to their known sources of income, amounting to Rs 100 crore, between 1999 and 2005. Mulayam Singh was chief minister of Uttar Pradesh from 2003 to 2007.
The court, in 2007, directed the CBI to probe the allegations. In 2012, while dismissing a review plea by the Yadavs against the verdict, it asked the CBI to drop the inquiry against Dimple Yadav saying she did not hold a public office.
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