GOMTI RIVER FRONT CASE: CBI ARRESTS RETIRED SUPDT ENGINEER, SENIOR ASSISTANT

LUCKNOW : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday night arrested Roop Singh Yadav, a retired superintendent engineer of the irrigation department, and Raj Kumar Yadav, a senior assistant, in connection with alleged financial irregularities in the beautification and channelisation of the Gomti river front in Lucknow during the Samajwadi Party regime between 2012 and 2017, CBI officials said on Friday. The arrests were made after nearly three years of investigation.

CBI spokesman RK Gaur confirmed that the former superintendent engineer and the senior assistant were arrested and produced in court in Lucknow on Friday.

The CBI court has granted four days’ police custody remand of the two accused and the investigation agency is quizzing them about details of the irregularities and people involved in it.

LUCKNOW: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered two FIRs against UP Shia Central Waqf Board’s former chairmanWasim Rizvi and four others for alleged illegal sale, purchase and transfer of waqf properties in Prayagraj and Kanpur, CBI officials said on Friday. They said the two FIRs were registered with Anti-Corruption Bureau of the CBI’s Lucknow unit on Wednesday and Thursday.

The UP government had recommended the CBI investigation into the alleged illegal sale and transfer of waqf properties worth several crore by UP Shia Central Waqf Board and the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board on October 11, 2019.

In the same matter, two separate FIRs were registered in Prayagraj and Lucknow in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

CBI spokesman RK Gaur confirmed that the premier investigating agency registered two regular cases against Rizvi and others, invoking charges of cheating, criminal intimidation and criminal breach of trust.

In a video circulated on social media, Rizvi blamed a prominent cleric for the step taken by the CBI. He also said it was unfortunate that the cleric had succeeded in misguiding the government against him.

In the FIR lodged on Wednesday, Allahabad Development Authority (now known as Prayagraj Development Authority) junior engineer Sudhank Mishra accused Rizvi and other unidentified people of illegal construction of shops at an Imambada in Allahabad (Prayagraj).

In the second FIR lodged on Thursday, one Tausiful Hasan accused Rizvi and four others, of grabbing land in Kanpur .