Illegal sand mining: CBI conducts raids in UP, Uttarakhand

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday conducted searches at several locations in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand in connection with the illegal sand mining case.

The probe officials conducted searches at eleven locations including Saharanpur, Dehradun and Lucknow in the morning.

Notably, in January also, searches were conducted at 12 places in the districts of Hamirpur, Jalon, Noida, Kanpur, Lucknow and Delhi.

During the searches, incriminating material pertaining to illegal sand mining, including huge cash and gold were recovered.

It has been alleged that government officials along with private individuals had allocated some illegal mining sites by flouting rules and regulations between the year 2012 and 2016. Mining rights were also given in violation of NGT orders.

All those who were ministers in that period will also be investigated, CBI sources said. Akhilesh Yadav held the charge of mining ministry between 2012 to July 2013 and hence can come under scanner in the ongoing probe.

The CBI had initiated a probe in the alleged illegal mining case in 2016 on directions of the Allahabad High Court. The cases of illegal mining were recorded from seven districts of Uttar Pradesh, namely, Shamli, Kaushambi, Fatehpur, Deoria, Saharanpur, Hamirpur, and Siddharthnagar.