Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government has recommended a CBI probe in a matter related to purchase of land in Mathura for Yamuna expressway project. The scam caused a loss of Rs 126 crore to the expressway industrial development authority.
The authority had recently conducted a departmental inquiry and found direct involvement of former Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) chairman PC Gupta in the scam. On the basis of the report, the state government has recommended a CBI probe.
The officials found that Gupta, through a nexus of other officers and employees, purchased 57.1549 hectares of land in seven villages of Mathura at a cost of Rs 85.49 crore with the help of 19 companies. Later, the land was sold at a higher cost to the authority, causing a loss of Rs 126 crore to YEIDA.
According to sources, it is still too early to say if more names could be revealed during the CBI probe, including that of former chief minister Mayawati under whose tenure the project was sanctioned.
It is alleged the purchase was meant to benefit the coteries and relatives of the accused. The Greater Noida police have already added three more names of former and current bureaucrats in the FIR lodged against the 22 accused on June 3. Gupta was arrested on June 22.
Yamuna expressway project has seen big farmer protests against the land acquisition policy, especially the housing scheme on the agricultural land of Bhatta-Parsaul village, located off to 165km Yamuna Expressway.
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