Rashid was produced before a local court of Basti on Sunday that sent him to judicial custody, said Basti SP Hemraj Meena.
An FIR was registered against 12 persons in Rae Bareli on Saturday over alleged irregularities in connection with “getting free hold of five acres by the Kamla Nehru Educational Society”.
The FIR comes more than four months after rebel Congress MLA Aditi Singh claimed that she had written to Director-General of Economic Offence Wing Rajendra Pal Singh, demanding a probe into the alleged irregularities in the functioning of Kamla Nehru Educational Society.
A total of 12 people were named in the FIR, lodged at Kowali police station, including government officials, who were allegedly involved in getting the free hold of the land done through “unfair means” in 2001.
Rae Bareli Superintendent of Police Shlok Kumar said on Sunday, “The First Information Report was lodged based on a complaint from Additional District Magistrate (ADM) Prem Prakash Upadhyay. The complaint alleges that the free hold done in 2001 of the land to the Society was done despite irregularities. A probe was done into the issue by the City Magistrate, based on which the complaint was submitted. We are looking into the facts of the case and accordingly, we will proceed.”
A senior district official pointed that a land is supposed to be allotted first, and only then cane free hold can be done.
“In this case, the probe has found that no allotment was done and there were issues of overwriting in some official documents. Another issue is that the money that was supposed to be deposited for free hold was not deposited. The probe has found that the whole free hold process was marred with irregularities with several government officials being found to be involved,” said the officer.
The First Information Report has been lodged under Indian Penal Code sections including for cheating, forgery and under sections of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984.
The 12 people named in the FIR include former Congress MP Sheila Kaul’s son Vikram Kaul. Others who have been named include Chedilal Jauhri, then Nuzul clerk; Praveen Kumar Mishra, then Lekhpal; Pradeep Kumar Srivastava, the Kanungo; Krishnapla Singh, then Tehsildar (Sadar); Sunil Dev secretary of the Society; Madan PalArya, then Additional District Magistrate (Finance and Revenue); Vindhay Vasini Prasad, then administrative official; Ram Krishna Srivastava, then Revenue official, according to sources.
In November last year, Aditi Singh had hit out at her party “colleagues and seniors”, saying that while they question PM Cares Fund, they shy away from maintaining “transparency and accountability in their own family-run societies”. Congress district president of Rae Bareli, Pankaj Tiwari had then said that he had no idea about the current Trust members as it has got nothing to do with the party.