Police Seize 5,000 Sarees in UP Billed to Close Aide of Mulayam

Minister says the move was a ploy by his opponents and denies any wrongdoing.

Five thousand sarees were seized from Uttar Pradesh during checks at Fatehpur, ahead of the polling that’s due to begin in the state on 4 February.

The truck was en route to Gayatri Prajapati’s home turf of Amethi from Kanpur and the minister faces a police case, as NDTV reported.

The truck’s driver and helper had saree bills in the minister’s name but no explanation for the huge consignment’s delivery.

The minister has denied wrongdoing, blaming his “opponents” for sending the delivery in his name.

This is a ploy by my opponents. I totally support an enquiry into this. I will write a letter to the election commission myself asking for a detailed investigation.

Prajapati was sacked from Akhilesh Yadav’s cabinet in September. He was accused of massive corruption while holding the post as the state’s mining minister. The Allahabad High Court directed the CBI to investigate the illegal mining across the state in July.

Gayatri Prajapati, believed to be close to Akilesh’s father Mulayam, was reinstated into the cabinet after two months and handled the transport department.

Mulayam has praised Prajapati at public forums multiple times.

We were checking trucks on the border of Fatehpur district, and we stopped this truck heading towards Amethi and recovered about 80 cartons. We were surprised to find that the bills for the sarees were in the name of Mr Prajapati. The truck driver and helper couldn’t explain.

Balikaran Singh Yadav, Senior Police Official

"On the orders of the district administration and the Election Commission, we have filed an FIR and we will investigate further. If required, we will question the merchants and the minister too," added Yadav.

Freebies like food, clothes, liquor are commonly busted by the police during the polls.

There is blatant violation of the model code of conduct by the ruling Samajwadi Party. The loot presided over by the party in power in the last five years is now being reflected in how leaders like Prajapati are trying to use the same money to entice voters.

Vijay Bahadur Pathak, BJP 

Source: NDTV