The Central Bureau of Investigation has alleged that Mayawati 'camouflaged' various sources of funds to the tune of Rs 13.18 crore by naming over 130 people as 'donors', who did not have money to make their daily ends meet.
UPA targets me at SP's behest: Mayawati
The premier investigating agency, in its counter-affidavit to the Supreme Court, said the facts come to light after income tax returns of Mayawati and her family members were collected and scrutinised.
From the scrutiny, it was found that the chief minister later declared her 'donated' amount in the Voluntary Disclosure Income Scheme, the agency said.
CBI has evidence to prosecute Maya
"It has been found that in order to camouflage the source of funds for acquiring immovable and movable assets, 307 donations and gifts worth Rs 13.18 crore have been shown to have been received by Mayawati, her family members and relatives from more than 130 donors," the affidavit said.
The CBI informed the apex court that a total of 30 donors have been traced and examined by the CBI.
"These donors have stated that they do not have means and resources to gift or donate such huge amounts," the agency alleged.
Mayawati's assets are worth Rs 52 crore
Mayawati had on Saturday said the case against her was politically motivated, a charged denied by the CBI which said its counter-affidavit was in response to the writ petition filed by the UP chief minister in the apex court seeking to quash the FIR filed against her in October 2003.
In the counter-affidavit, the CBI informed the Supreme Court that 'some of the donors have been examined by the Income Tax department and in the course of its enquiry, the statements given by the donors before the department were similar to those received by the agency'.
"The donors have stated that their bank accounts were opened by one Mahesh Garg of Delhi who retained the cheque leaves signed by the donors. They have further stated that they are not aware of the transactions in the accounts opened in their names since all these accounts were operated by Garg," the affidavit alleged.
The affidavit noted that three women -- Gurcharan Kaur, Kulwant Kaur and Sarwan Kaur -- were shown as having donated Rs 28 lakh each to Mayawati, and the Income Tax recorded that all three had declared Rs 28 lakh in their 1997 VDIS. They had also paid the taxes.
In the VDIS, the three women had purportedly declared that the money was given by their father -- Hari Singh -- who during the course of investigation was found to be a humble artisan and had 'no capacity' to save any money, it said.
Even the women did not have adequate income from which they could have spared any amount for making gifts, the agency claimed.
The CBI further said the investigation into the disproportionate assets revealed that there was a meteoric rise in the assets possessed by Mayawati ever since she assumed office of the Uttar Pradesh chief minister for the first time in the year 1995.