Andhra Pradesh: SP leaders protest against CBI notice to party chief Akhilesh Yadav

The SP leaders including the state unit chief Pasam Venkateswarlu and Madhu Botta Yadav sat on a dharna in front of the Ambedkar statue.

Amravathi: Samajwadi Party (SP) of Andhra Pradesh staged a protest in Amravathi today against the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) notice to the party Chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav askng him to appear as a witness in a case linked to illegal sand mining.

The SP leaders including the state unit chief Pasam Venkateswarlu and Madhu Botta Yadav sat on a dharna in front of the Ambedkar statue.

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They raised slogans against the central government ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Meanwhile, the Samajwadi leaders also accused the BJP of ‘weaponising’ the central agencies in a bid to harass the opposition leaders.

The CBI, on Wednsday, asked Akhilesh Yadav to appear before the agency in a case related to sand mining. However, Yadav skipped the summons. According to the sources, the CBI in a High Court-referred case related to sand mining asked Yadav to join the investigation as a witness before the CBI in Delhi today.

He was summoned in connection with the CBI FIR lodged in January 2019, which is related to alleged illegal mining in Hamirpur between 2012 and 2016. In January 2019, an FIR was registered against several public servants, including the then-district magistrate, mining officer and others.

It is alleged in the FIR that government employees allowed illegal mining of minerals in Hamirpur. Akhilesh Yadav, was the chief minister of the state between 2012 and 2017 and held the mining portfolio during 2012-13.

The CBI in its FIR had alleged that people were allowed to excavate minor minerals illegally, commit theft of the minor minerals and extort money from the leaseholders as well as from the drivers of the vehicles transporting minor minerals.