Hamirpur illegal mining case: CBI raids Prajapati’s residences

Prajapati held the mining portfolio for a while in the Akhilesh government and is considered an influential Samajwadi Party (SP) leader.
He is currently in jail in connection with a rape case filed by a woman who claimed he exploited her under the pretext of helping her with a mining lease.

He was arrested in 2017. Yadav, who was UP’s CM between 2012 and 2017, also held the mining portfolio during 2012-13.
Searches were also conducted at the residence of a former Samajwadi Party MP Ghanshyam Anuragi in Jalaun. Anuragi was a member of the 15th Lok Sabha from Jalaun.

“It was alleged that public servants, in criminal conspiracy with other accused, allowed illegal mining of Minor Minerals in District Hamirpur (UP) during the period 2012-2016,” CBI spokesperson Nitin Wakankar said.

He said the accused had illegally granted fresh leases for mining sand, renewed existing leases and permitted obstructed periods to existing lease holders causing wrongful loss to the government exchequer and undue gain for themselves.

This is the third FIR in the case registered by the CBI on January 2, 2019, nearly two-and-a-half years after the agency was directed by the Allahabad High Court to investigate the matter.