Mulayam Singh Yadav disproportionate assets case: CVC seeks CBI closure report

NEW DELHI: The CVC has sought the closure report filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in a disproportionate assets case against Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, raising the prospects of the five-month-old report coming out in public.

CBI had in September announced that it was closing the case against Yadav and his family due to lack of “sufficient evidence”.

Last week, the petitioner in the case, Vishwanath Chaturvedi, had also asked for a copy of the closure report through a Right to Information (RTI) application filed with both CBI and CVC.

R Srikumar, who retired as vigilance commissioner in CVC on January 27, told ET that CVC had asked CBI for a copy of the closure report in the Mulayam Singh Yadav DA case. “Probably, we also asked whether the closure report has been accepted by the competent court,” Srikumar said.

A senior CBI officer said the copy has been handed over to the CVC which may be examining it, but said CBI was not required to submit the closure report before any court as it was a preliminary enquiry (PE) and not a regular First Information Report (FIR). Another senior officer with CBI, however, was unsure if the agency had handed over the report to CVC, adding that the agency did not have any problems in doing so. “We are ready for any legal challenge to the report,” the officer said. CBI spokesperson Kanchan Prasad has refused to answer queries in this matter.

Chaturvedi, however, said he can challenge the closure report only if CBI makes the same public, which is not the case even five months after the case was closed. He said he had written to CBI director on January 18 asking for a copy of the report and a re-investigation in the case. “I have got no reply to my letter.

They should have provided a copy of the closure report to the petitioner in the case. So, I have now filed RTIs with both the CVC and the CBI asking for a copy,” Chaturvedi said.