SC to hear plea in disproportionate assets case against ex-UP CMs Mulayam, Akhilesh

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi has listed the fresh plea of political activist Vishwanath Chaturvedi for hearing on March 25 in which he has sought a direction to the CBI to file its probe report either before the apex court or before a magisterial court in the assets case.

The apex court, in its verdict of March 1, 2007, had directed the CBI "to enquire into allegations" and find out as to as to whether the plea with regard to disproportionate assets of SP leaders was "correct or not". (Photo by PRAKASH SINGH / AFP)

New Delhi: The Supreme Court would hear on Monday a plea seeking a direction to the CBI to place the investigation report in the disproportionate assets case against Samajwadi Party leaders and former Uttar Pradesh chief ministers --  Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son Akhilesh Yadav. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi has listed the fresh plea of political activist Vishwanath Chaturvedi for hearing on March 25 in which he has sought a direction to the CBI to file its probe report either before the apex court or before a magisterial court in the assets case. Chaturvedi, in 2005, had filed the PIL in the top court seeking a direction to the CBI to take appropriate action to prosecute Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh, his wife Dimple Yadav and Prateek Yadav, the other son of Mulayam Singh, under the Prevention of Corruption Act for allegedly acquiring assets more than the known source of their income by misusing their power of authority. The apex court, in its verdict of March 1, 2007, had directed the CBI "to enquire into allegations" and find out as to as to whether the plea with regard to disproportionate assets of SP leaders was "correct or not". Later in 2012, the court dismissed the review petitions of Mulayam Singh, Akhilesh and Prateek against its verdict and had directed the CBI to go ahead with the probe against them in the disproportionate assets case. It, however, had allowed the review plea of Dimple Yadav and had directed the CBI to drop the inquiry against her saying that she was not holding any public office. The court had also modified its March 1, 2007 order and ordered the CBI to file the status report before the court and not to the government. Chaturvedi, in his fresh plea, said, "Despite the yawning gap between the complaint made/court's directions and the pendency of filing of a regular Case in this matter, an unusually long period as already escaped without any action being taken on the matter for 11 long years". The matter was still pending with the CBI for registration of a regular case, "fair, impartial and immediate investigation leading to prosecution of the offenders", it said. Till date, no FIR has been registered against the Yadavs  and it has not only caused "some irremediable and irrecoverable damaged to the whole case, but also raised serious questions of credibility and integrity of our investigating agencies", the plea said. The CBI is duty bound to register a regular case as mandated by the provisions of law and also report the FIR to the jurisdictional magistrate as mandatory and provided by procedure law, it said. Referring to the CBI's earlier status report, the fresh plea said that the report indicated that disproportionate assets were possessed not only by Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh and Prateek but also by Dimple Yadav. On the basis of Income Tax Returns and reliable documents of the Yadav family members, the disproportionate assets were calculated at Rs 2.63 crore, it said.