HC seeks status report on vigilance probe into UP's Dalit memorial 'scam'

The Allahabad High Court Thursday sought a status report on the ongoing vigilance probe into the building of various Dalit memorials, including statues of BSP founder Kanshi Ram and the party's poll symbol 'elephant' during the Mayawati regime between 2007 and 2012.

A bench of Chief Justice D B Bhosale and Justice Yashwant Varma asked the Uttar Pradesh government to apprise it of the status of the probe into the alleged scam by September 27.

The bench sought the report on a plea by state native Shashi Kant alias Bhavesh Pandey and slated his petition for next hearing on September 27.

The state government headed by erstwhile Chief Minister Mayawati had built the memorials, statues and parks at a cost of over Rs 2,600 crore at Lucknow, Noida and elsewhere in the state.

UP Lokayukta had earlier indicted Mayawati's two Cabinet colleagues - Nasmeedunin Siddiqui and Babu Singh Kushwaha, besides 12 BSP MLAs and several others for alleged 'wrong-doings' in the purchase of sandstone for the memorials.

On Lokayukta's report, an FIR too had been lodged against them in 2014.

The other persons against whom the case was registered included more than 100 engineers and officers of the UP Rajkiya Nirman Nigam, Public Works Department and New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (NOIDA).