Akhilesh Yadav to Skip CBI Summons for Questioning in Illegal Mining Case

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav is likely to skip to appear before the CBI on Thursday for questioning in an illegal mining case registered in 2019 in which he is a witness.

According to SP sources, the former UP CM was scheduled to attend a meeting of PDA “Picchda (backward classes), Dalit and Alpsankhyak (minorities)” in the party office in Lucknow and had no plans to go anywhere.

In a notice issued under section 160 of CrPC, the CBI asked Yadav to appear before it on February 29. As per the summons, he is not the accused but a witness. The cases in which Yadav is summoned pertain to the issuance of mining leases in alleged violation of the e-tendering process. The Allahabad High Court had ordered the probe.

It is alleged that public servants allowed illegal mining during 2012-16, the period when Yadav was chief minister, and illegally renewed licences despite a ban on mining by the National Green Tribunal.