The Enforcement Directorate has registered a money-laundering case in connection with illegal sand mining in Uttar Pradesh, days after the CBI lodged a case against 11 persons, including Samajwadi Party and BSP politicians, for the alleged crime and said it was also probing the possible role of former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav.
The CBI suspects that the alleged Rs 4,000-crore sand mining scam took place between 2012 and 2014. Akhilesh had held the mining portfolio from 2012 to 2014, the first three years of his term as chief minister.
“We have filed the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and pressed charges against those booked by the CBI. The ED will check the money trail and see if alleged illegal funds earned as kickbacks in these cases were laundered by the accused. We will soon summon the accused for questioning,” an ED official said.
The 11 accused include Samajwadi MLC Ramesh Mishra, party functionaries Dinesh Mishra, Ram Awatar Singh and Karan Singh, BSP politicians Ambika Tiwari, Satyadev Dixit and Sanjay Dixit, and IAS officer B. Chandrakala.
