CBI arrests former Noida chief engineer Yadav Singh

Noida Authority's former chief engineer Yadav Singh, accused of amassing ill-gotten wealth, was arrested by the CBI from Noida on Wednesday, an official said.

The tainted engineer is now being interrogated "based on many leads of unaccounted wealth", an official told IANS.

Yadav was earlier called to the CBI office for interrogation, after which he was arrested in the evening. He is to be presented in a case at the CBI court in Ghaziabad on Thursday.

A few days ago, Yadav's close aide Ramendra is learnt to have "spilt the beans" on his money trail and other benami properties, after which his arrest was a foregone conclusion, a police official said.

Over the past few months, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has been looking at official records, tenders and other dealings of Yadav Singh between 2002 and 2014, during which period he is accused to have amassed wealth to the tune of several hundred crore rupees.

During a raid at his Sector 51 residence in Noida on Noveber 27, 2014, Income Tax officials had unearthed a large sum of money, jewellery, gold, diamonds and property papers that could not be accounted for.

Welcoming the arrest of Yadav Singh, state BJP president Laxmikant Bajpayi said it was long awaited and now the loot trail would be out in the open. People of the state are entitled to know who all were beneficiaries of the largesse of the tainted engineer and who all protected him from law.

The engineer was very close to the powers that be in the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government and after a brief suspension endeared himself to the present Samajwadi Party (SP) government so much so that the Akhilesh Yadav government went to the Supreme Court to shield him.