Noida's chief engineer suspended

Noida authority chief engineer Yadav Singh was suspended Monday by the Uttar Pradesh government.

The move comes ten days after an Income Tax (IT) raid on his Noida house, where hundred of crores of ill-gotten wealth, diamonds and gold were found.

Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav ordered the suspension after a probe had found Yadav Singh prima facie guilty of amassing illegal assets and money, senior officials told IANS.

Akhilesh Yadav, who was in Delhi for a meeting of chief ministers convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, met senior officials of the Noida Authority.

While there is no information about the chief engineer since the IT raids, a showcause notice was pasted on his residence in Noida last week, seeking to know why he should not be suspended in the wake of recoveries made by the IT department.

The Special Investigation Team working under the directives of the Supreme Court has already asked the Enforcement Directorate to probe the matter over charges of money laundering.

The sudden decision to suspend him has come under sharp criticism by the opposition parties, particularly the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

BJP state spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak while terming the suspension as delayed move, sought to now why did the chief minister delay the decision for so long.

Pathak asked: "We would like to know as would the people on why it took so long for Akhilesh Yadav to suspend the tainted official when he took only minutes to suspend an honest IAS officer Durga Nagpal last year?".