Akhilesh unlikely to appear before CBI for probe in illegal mining case

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav will not appear before the CBI on Thursday for questioning in an illegal mining case registered five years ago in which he is a witness, party sources said.

A senior party leader said Yadav has "expressed his inability to appear before the CBI on Monday and asked the agency why it did not seek any information from him in the case for the past five years".

The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister has, however, assured all help to the CBI in the probe, the leader said.

Yadav attended a meeting of PDA -- "Picchda (backward classes), Dalit and Alpsankhyak (minorities)" -- at the Samajwadi Party office here.

In reply to a question earlier in the day, the Samajwadi Party's backward wing state president Rajpal Kashyap told PTI, "Akhileshji will attend a meeting of PDA at the party office today."

"He is not going anywhere. He will be attending a meeting in Lucknow," Samajwadi Party spokesperson Rajendra Chowdhury said.

About the CBI notice to Yadav, he said, "I don't have detailed information regarding this. But it is sure, he is not going to Delhi today."

In a notice issued under section 160 of CrPC, the CBI has asked Yadav to appear before it on February 29, officials said. The section allows a police officer to summon witnesses in a probe.

"He is not the accused. He is a witness," a senior official in the know of the development had told PTI.

The cases in which Yadav is summoned pertain to the issuance of mining leases in alleged violation of the e-tendering process. The Allahabad High Court had ordered the probe.

It is alleged that public servants allowed illegal mining during 2012-16, the period when Yadav was chief minister, and illegally renewed licences despite a ban on mining by the National Green Tribunal.

Reacting to the notice in the cases registered in 2019, Yadav attacked the BJP, saying, "The SP is on the maximum target (of the BJP). In 2019, I got a notice in some matters as there were Lok Sabha elections then. Now, when the election is approaching again, I am getting a notice again."

"I know, when the election comes, notice will also come. Why this nervousness? If you (BJP) have done a lot of work in the past 10 years, why are you nervous?" he posed.