CBI clean chit to Mulayam, family members in disproportionate assets case

The CBI has informed the Supreme Court that it has given a clean chit to Samajwadi Party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav and his family members in a disproportionate assets case of 2013 as sufficient evidence to support the allegations could not be brought out.

The agency in an affidavit filed before the court said that no prima facie there was no evidence of commission of cognisable offence against Yadav, his sons Akhilesh and Prateek and daughter-in-law Dimple.

On March 25, the Supreme Court had directed the CBI to apprise it of the status of probe in the alleged disproportionate assets case.

"The CBI has filed a reply on the status of the case on May 10 in the Supreme Court in a petition filed in the court this year relating to the matter," CBI spokesperson Nitin Wakankar said.

The preliminary enquiry was closed on August 7, 2013 in accordance with the directions of the Supreme Court in its order dated December 13, 2012, the agency said in the affidavit.

"On careful examination of documents, statement of witnesses and the version of the suspects during the course of further enquiry sufficient evidence to support the allegations of possessions of disproportionate assets jointly or individually against Mulayam Singh Yadav and his family members could not be brought out," it said.

The CBI said the Central Vigilance Commission was communicated about the decision taken in the preliminary enquiry on October 8, 2013 along with reasons for difference in the computation of assets in the earlier finding of 2007 vis-a-vis the enquiry report of 2013.

"Since no prima facie evidence of commission of cognisable offence against the suspects was found during the enquiry, it was not converted into an FIR and as such no enquiry was conducted in the matter after August 7, 2013," the CBI said.

Petitioner Vishwanath Chaturvedi, who has been pursuing the matter since 2005, had filed a fresh petition seeking a direction to the CBI to place the status report on probe either before the apex court or before a magisterial court in the assets case against the three SP leaders.

Chaturvedi, in 2005, had filed the PIL in the top court seeking a direction to the CBI to take appropriate action to prosecute Yadav, Akhilesh and his wife Dimple, and Prateek under the Prevention of Corruption Act for allegedly acquiring assets more than the known source of their income by misusing their power of authority.

The top court in March asked the probe agency to file a report within two weeks and said that "there was a status report (of 2007 by CBI) saying that prima facie case is made out. We are entitled to know as to what happened to the investigation".

Rejecting the plea of senior advocate C A Sundaram, appearing for the Samajwadi Party (SP) patriarch and his family, the bench said, "Why should we not ask CBI as to what happened in terms of orders issued in 2007...We would like to know the status of the probe.