ED raids 7 locations across Uttar Pradesh; BSP Chief Mayawati under radar

New Delhi: Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party boss Mayawati is reportedly under Enforcement Directorate radar. As per reports, ED on Thursday conducted raids at 7 places and is likely to question Mayawati over the allegations of corruption levied on her during her tenure as UP CM. Mayawati is accused of Rs 114 crore scam during her tenure as Chief Minister between 2007 and 2012. The vigilance complaint was filed under various sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act and it pertained to alleged financial irregularities in the construction of memorials, including statues of BSP founder Kanshi Ram and the party's poll symbol 'elephant'. It is said that the Rs 114 cr loss was caused to the exchequer and unlawful gain to public servants and private individuals". The project of building those memorials in Noida and Lucknow was over Rs 2,600 crore. The UP Lokayukta had earlier indicted Mayawati's two cabinet colleagues -- Nasmeedunin Siddiqui and Babu Singh Kushwaha, besides 12 BSP MLAs and several others for alleged 'wrong-doings' in the purchase of sandstone for the memorials. On the Lokayukta's report, the vigilance department FIR was been lodged against them in 2014. The other persons against whom the case was registered include more than 100 engineers and officers of the UP Rajkiya Nirman Nigam, Public Works Department and New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (NOIDA), reported PTI. This comes after Former CM, and Mayawati’s ally Akhilesh Yadav’s name was brought up in the alleged mining scam, over which Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed an FIR against 4 people, including one Samajwadi Party leader to probe illegal mining instances in the Hamirpur area between 2012 and 2016. The CBI has said it is probing the role of former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav in the case as he had held the mining portfolio during this period. Both Mayawati and Akhilesh recently shook hands and declared an alliance in Uttar Pradesh, built with an intent to sweep PM Modi led Bharatiya Janta Party government in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.