The Central Bureau of Investigation has accused Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati of being responsible for the delay in filing its chargesheet in the disproportionate assets case registered against her and also for making "baseless" charges of harassment and humiliation. In a 12-page affidavit, the CBI has informed the Supreme Court that on its part it had completed its probe in the DA case against the Bahujan Samaj Party supremo and her relatives. "...it is the petitioner, who does not want conclusion of the investigation and at the same time is baselessly alleging harassment and humiliation due to ongoing probe. The so-called delay in conclusion of the probe of the case has been caused by the petitioner herself," the CBI said its counter affidavit in the court.
The matter which was listed for hearing on July 13 has been adjourned for two months after Uttar Pradesh's Additional Advocate General Shail Kumar Dwivedi told a Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan that the state government would file a counter to the agency's affidavit. The CBI, while giving a point-by-point reply to the affidavit filed by Mayawati in the court, said "the petitioner never wanted the investigation to be concluded, which is clear from series of representations filed by the petitioner and her relatives expressing shock." About her claim that a CBI official had visited BSP's Parliament Member Brijesh Pathak's house on or before July 22, 2008 seeking
support for UPA government at the Centre, the CBI denied it vehemently saying it was an attempt to malign the reputation of the CBI.
The CBI, in its affidavit said, Mayawati was "unnecessarily trying to mix politics with the criminal investigation against her with a view to delay the dismissal of the instant writ petition (filed by her) and to thwart the process of law". The BSP supremo had earlier claimed that the CBI needed government clearance before it could begin a probe against a Chief Minister, a charge which was denied by the agency saying Mayawati was not the Chief Minister at that time. The CBI said that "no federal issue of constitutional nature was involved in registration and investigation of a criminal case, especially when Mayawati assumed the official only in May 2007. Mayawati "neither wants the investigations to be concluded nor shows satisfaction with its continuance. The petitioner is only trying to confuse issues by bringing in irrelevant facts with a sole purpose of frustrating the due process of law," the CBI alleged in the affidavit.
The CBI had questioned her declared assets of Rs one crore in 2003 going up to Rs 50 crore in 2007 and said there was "ample evidence" to show she had amassed wealth disproportionate to her known sources of income. Mayawati had claimed that she had received the money through donations from party workers which included meagre sums of Rs five and Rs ten which they contributed on her birthday.