Lawmakers and officers involved in corrupt practices are on the radar of the state investigation agencies.
Addressing a meeting to review the progress of the investigation in corruption cases, chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday directed the state investigation agencies to complete probe against corrupt lawmakers and officers within two months.
A senior officer, who did not wish to be named, said the government would sanction prosecution against corrupt officers and lawmakers. “They will be charge sheeted in the appropriate court. The prosecution against some of the lawmakers and bureaucrats is pending for the two decades,” he added.
The meeting was attended by the officers of different investigation agencies including vigilance, EOW, SIT, CB-CID, anti-corruption cell, cooperative cell and home department.
On condition of anonymity, a senior officer who was present in the meeting, said: “At least 520 cases of corruption against former ministers, MLAs, IAS, IPS, PCS and PPS officers are pending with different investigation agencies.It was found during review that 300 cases of serious corruption charges were pending with the EOW, 160 with vigilance, 40 with SIT and 19 with the anti-corruption cell. Using political clout or tricks, lawmakers and bureaucrats had managed to stall probe against them. They also managed to keep the prosecution sanction pending.”
During the meeting, heads of the investigation agencies were directed to submit evidence against lawmakers and officers accused in corruption so that the government could give green signal for prosecution, he said.
“In several cases it was found that officers managed to get charge sheet pending by making representation with the state government alleging that charges were mischievous to harm his image. The state government plans to plug all the loopholes so that agencies face no hurdle in collecting evidence,” the officer added.
He said majority of corruption cases pending with the investigation agencies were in food and civil supplies department followed by health, revenue, irrigation and PWD.
Another senior officer claimed majority of lawmakers accused in corruption cases were ministers in the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) governments.
“Bureaucrats also held plum posts in the previous governments. By initiating action against them, the BJP government plans to make fight against corruption a major political issue in the run up to the Lok Sabha election,” he said.
Prasanta Patnaik