Supreme Court agrees to hear plea on fresh FIR against Mayawati
The SC agreed to hear a petition which sought that a fresh FIR be registered against Mayawati in the disproportionate assets case. The Centre, however, backed Mayawati, claiming that this was unnecessary as she had already been given a clean chit by the CBI. Mayawati's lawyer said the petitioner- Kamlesh Verma was an ex-BSP member and the petition was politically motivated.
In July 2003, the SC commanded a CBI probe into the Taj Heritage Corridor case on the grounds of a PIL filed by Delhi-based lawyer Ajay Garwal. On the court's injunction, the CBI registered an FIR against Mayawati. Mayawati's secretary PL Punia, environment minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui, his principal secretary R K Sharma and former environment secretary Rajendra Prasad were included in the probe.
In the Taj Corridor case, it was alleged that the government had already spent Rs.74 crore on the project to beautify Taj Mahal; however, no construction was done.
In 2007, a charge sheet was filed in a special CBI court in Lucknow by CBI against "Mayawati, Naseemuddin Siddiqui, RK Sharma, Rajendra Prasad under IPC sections 420, 467, 468 and 471." The charge sheet asserted that the cited people had siphoned off Rs.175 crore under the guise of constructing a corridor around the Taj Mahal prompting loss to the government treasury.
The SC scrapped the CBI inquiry into Mayawati's alleged possession of illegal assets, saying that it had never ordered a CBI probe. The court said that CBI had only been asked to probe Mayawati's role in the Taj Corridor case, but the agency had launched an investigation. CBI had exceeded its jurisdiction by launching an investigation into her assets, SC said.
The CBI closed the investigations into Mayawati's disproportionate assets case. CBI justified its decision by referring to the SC's order to nullify the FIR against Mayawati. Former CBI director Joginder Singh said, "Such cases are difficult to prove in the court, there is no witness protection, people are scared to become witnesses".
