YEIDA land scam: Court rejects CBI plea

NOIDA: The Meerut anti-corruption court has rejected a plea filed by the CBI, which had requested that the investigation into the Rs 126-crore Yamuna Expressway land scam be transferred to Ghaziabad. The court also said that the cases against the 11 accused, against whom a chargesheet has been filed, will continue to be heard in Meerut.
Earlier, the CBI had asked the court to transfer the probe into the cases against the absconding accused to Ghaziabad. However, the court directed that charges be framed against 11 of the accused including, former YEIDA CEO PC Gupta, Manoj, Anil, Satendra Chauhan, Satendra, Ranvir Singh and Sonia Bansal. A chargesheet against them was presented before the court on February 28.
Sirajuddin Alvi, additional government counsel at Meerut anti-corruption court, told TOI that on January 24, the government ordered that the investigation against the absconding accused in the case be transferred to the CBI. “After the investigation was transferred, a separate FIR was lodged. On February 20, CBI inspector Ajay Singh Gehlot presented an application before the court requesting the cases against the accused be transferred to Ghaziabad,” he said.
The court had summoned the CBI officials on February 26, when it heard the plea and reserved February 28 for the order.
While 22 persons were initially named in the case, 11 of the accused went to jail and got bail. Alvi said that the court of Prabhu Narayan Pandey, special judge, anti-corruption court II, rejected the plea stating that the cases against the accused would continue to be heard in Meerut and summons were issued to inspector Gajendra Singh for putting forward the prosecution evidence.