SC seeks CBI report on Mulayam, son assets

SC seeks status report on probe against SP leaders

The Supreme Court on Monday sought within two weeks a status report from the CBI on its probe into a case of alleged disproportionate assets against Samajwadi Party leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son Akhilesh.

A Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Deepak Gupta rejected a vehement submission of the counsel for the Yadavs that the notice to the CBI on the plea be kept in abeyance in the wake of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

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The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on an application from Congress leader Vishwanath Chaturvedi for a direction to file a status report on the probe conducted against Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, his sons Akhilesh Yadav and Prateek Yadav in the disproportionate assets case registered against them.

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Deepak Gupta sought the CBI response after the petitioner alleged that the CBI had not filed a status report in the matter though more than 11 years had passed when the apex court passed the order for registration of a case.

In his application, Mr Chaturvedi said his main writ petition filed in 2005 sought a direction to the CBI to take appropriate action to prosecute Mulayam Singh and his family members for amassing assets more than the known source of their income by misusing their power of authority.

Congress leader Vishwanath Chaturvedi filed a writ petition in 2005 seeking a direction to the CBI to take action to prosecute Mulayam Singh and his family for amassing assets more than the known source of their income. The court in 2007 directed the CBI ‘to enquire into allegations and file a report.

The court in 2007 directed the CBI ‘to enquire into allegations and file a report whether they are correct or not (sic)’. The court directed the CBI to submit a report to the Union of India and on the receipt of such reports, the latter may take further steps depending upon the outcome of the preliminary enquiry into the assets of respondents.

It is stated that the CBI prepared the said status report after conducting a preliminary enquiry and examining the income tax returns of the four resp-ondents from April 1, 1993 to March 31, 2005. Even on the basis of the apparent consideration

The court directed the CBI to submit a report to the Union of India and the latter may take further steps depending upon the outcome of the enquiry.

paid for acquisition of properties by Mulayam Singh, the assets disproportionate to his known sources of income were found to be `2,99,00,000. Further, if the assets of the entire family were taken into account, the assets disproportionate to the known sources of income were found to be `9,22,72,000, the value of the assets being `24 crore in 2013.

He said an unusually long period has already passed without any action being taken on the matter for 11 long years and the whole matter has been pending with the CBI for registration of a regular case.