Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Lokayukta Justice NK Mehrotra has recommended a probe by the CBI against former state health minister and Bahujan Samaj Party leader Babu Singh Kushwaha.
"There were three complaints against Kushwaha after inquiry into which a probe by either CBI or Director Vigilance after registering an FIR under Prevention of Corruption and Money Laundering Acts has been recommended," Lokayukya Justice Mehrotra told PTI.
He said that the report has been send to Chief Minister Mayawati for action.
Justice Mehrotra said that there were three complaints against Kushwaha, including allotting mining lease to his own men, inviting dummy applications through advertisements in unknown newspapers like Agnipath, Karmyug, Radical Times confined to Banda and Mahoba.
He said that the minister was also accused of issuing mining lease without taking permission of the Union Environment Ministry and allowing use of machines, which was prohibited.
The second complaint pertained to parking money in five societies and partnership firms registered in Lucknow, Kanpur and Jhansi with jurisdiction in these three districts, besides Banda.
One of the partnership firms named Darpan Mercantile was based in Mumbai, Justice Mehrotra said.
He said that Kushwaha and his wife were also accused of acquiring wealth in two different names.
"The former minister did not file any reply in two matters and in the third matter it was unsigned, he however did not deny any of the charges," he said.
Kushwaha, who was sacked from Uttar Pradesh Cabinet by Chief Minister Mayawati and expelled from the BSP following allegations of his involvement in a scam in the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), is now with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Kushwaha had on Sunday alleged that he was being framed in the NRHM scam as a part of a conspiracy hatched by senior Uttar Pradesh bureaucrats.
He blamed Uttar Pradesh Principal Secretary Fateh Bahadur Singh and Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar of having hatched the conspiracy against him.
He also alleged that some officers in the bureaucracy were wary of his growing clout and they conspired to trap him in the NRHM scam and threatened to expose such officials.
The former BSP leader created a flutter recently when he joined the BJP in presence of senior leaders Vinay Katiyar and Surya Pratap Shahi.
Kushwaha's induction resulted in voices of dissent in the party after which he wrote a letter to the BJP national president Nitin Gadkari requesting him to suspend his membership till proven innocent.
(With additional information from PTI)
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