Illegal sand mining in UP: CBI registers 5 PEs

The CBI has registered five preliminary enquiries over allegations of illegal sand mining in five districts of Uttar Pradesh.
The agency, on the directive of the Allahabad High Court, will probe charges of illegal mining in Shamli, Hamirpur, Fatehpur, Siddharth Nagar and Deoria districts
"If the CBI finds that any offence has been disclosed in the course of inquiry/investigation, it shall be open to them to register such offence and proceed to investigate the matter further in accordance with the law," a bench of justices Dilip B Bhosale and Yashwant Varma had said on September 30 last year.
The order was passed on a Public Interest Litigation filed by Sonu Kumar who had alleged that illegal sand mining was going on in Uttar Pradesh and that government officials were involved in it.

CBI sources said the preliminary enquiries have been registered against unknown officials of the district administrations, the Mining department of the Uttar Pradesh government and others.
The agency has also sent teams to places where illegal mining was allegedly going on, the sources said.

They said they are looking into allegations of irregularities in mining, licences etc.
The preliminary enquiry is the first step toward substantiate allegations. If enough material is detected, establishing a crime, the agency registers an FIR on the basis of its findings.
During a preliminary enquiry, the agency cannot summon a suspect or carry out searches.