LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav is unlikely to appear before the CBI on Thursday for questioning in an illegal mining case registered five years ago in which he is a witness, party sources said.
The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister is scheduled to attend a meeting of PDA ‘Picchda (backward classes), Dalit and Alpsankhyak (minorities)’ at the party office here and has no plans to go anywhere till now, they said.
In reply to a question, the Samajwadi Party’s backward wing state president Rajpal Kashyap told PTI, “Akhileshji will attend a meeting of PDA at the party office today.”
“He is not going anywhere. He will be attending a meeting in Lucknow,” Samajwadi Party spokesperson Rajendra Chowdhury said.
About the CBI notice to Yadav, he said, “I don’t have detailed information regarding this. But I am sure he is not going to Delhi today.”
In a notice issued under Section 160 of CrPC, the CBI has asked Yadav to appear before it on February 29, officials said. The section allows a police officer to summon witnesses in a probe.
“He is not the accused. He is a witness,” a senior official in the know of the development had told PTI.
The cases in which Yadav is summoned pertain to the issuance of mining leases in alleged violation of the e-tendering process. The Allahabad High Court had ordered the probe.