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Prima facie case against Mayawati: CBI

Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati ignored the customs department's intimation about the actual cost of the American-made fire-fighting floating pumps, the Central Bureau of Investigation told the Delhi high court.

In an affidavit submitted yesterday, the CBI further said that Mayawati, at present a member of the Lok Sabha, granted the contract to a Madras-based firm, owned by her party member, at a much higher rate.

The CBI said there was a doubt about the genuineness of the 143 pumps, costing a whopping Rs 36,672,880, as the pumps did not have the US-made brand name on it.

It said the member of Parliament did not apply her mind in the purchase of the fire-fighting floating pumps and accessories and allowed the exorbitant price of the pump.

The agency said there was a prima facie case against the petitioner along with nine others under Section 120B read with Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 13(2) read with 13(2)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act as also the special roles played by them.

The CBI said the custom department had intimated Mayawati that the cost of an imported pump was Rs 46,743 and the customs duty on it was Rs 10,283, bringing the total cost of the US-made pump to Rs 57,026. As against this, the Madras-based firm Fire Challenger supplied the pumps at an exorbitant rate of Rs 249,000 per pump, it added.

The affidavit, filed by special CBI public prosecutor A K Dutt, stated that the accused Devnathan, proprietor of Fire Challenger, was the Bahujan Samaj Party's Tamil Nadu unit president.

The affidavit was filed in pursuance of the petition moved by the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister for quashing the CBI first information report of March 18, which also names certain senior state government officials.

The case came up for hearing today, but a division bench comprising Justices Devinder Gupta and N G Nandi, adjourned it to May 4 as the affidavit had not been placed on record of the court. The bench, however, ordered that its interim order would continue till the next date of hearing in the case.

The CBI said Mayawati had annexed a 'bogus, false, and concocted' first information report without verifying its authenticity and the copy of the FIR filed by the petitioner was not a certified copy, it added.

"By annexing the FIR, the petitioner has misled the court and obtained an interim bail," the CBI affidavit said.

The high court had on April 1, while issuing showcause notices to the CBI, granted anticipatory bail to Mayawati, who feared arrest following the CBI's FIR against her for non-payment of bills for the fire-fighting pumps.

UNI

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