Truth vs Hype: The house of Yadavs

After playing cat and mouse with Mulayam Singh Yadav for six years, the UPA looks all set to close the CBI's investigation into whether he and his family amassed crores of assets way beyond their earnings. But this would be turning its back on its own preliminary findings. 

In its preliminary enquiry in October 2007, in response to a petition by Congress activist Vishwanath Chaturvedi, the CBI listed in detail the rapid rise in the fortunes of Mulayam Singh Yadav and his family. From just three bighas of land in 1993, the CBI found that by 2005, the family owned a string of real estate assets in Etawah, Saifai and Lucknow which, by the family's own tax submissions shows Rs. 2.6 crores of disproportionate assets. 

The CBI also listed the many assets and deals not declared, which they say hints at even bigger fraudulence and asked for permission to register cases of criminal misconduct against Mulayam and Akhilesh, and begin the probe. That permission never came. Instead, the case took a crucial step backwards in mid-2008, when the UPA, short on numbers, sought Mulayam's support for the trust vote on the Nuclear deal.

Eight days before the Nuclear deal vote, Mulayam's daughter-in-law, Dimple Yadav, made the first of three presentations on her investments, not to the CBI but to the Prime Minister's Office. The matter was referred to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). This was a baffling move, given that the DoPT is the administrative ministry of the CBI, and has no authority to hear those under the CBI's scanner. 

What followed next only strengthened the suspicion of a backroom deal. But the CBI thought it fit to seek the advice of the then Solicitor General of India, Goolam E Vahanvati, who submitted a six-page opinion in which he cited previous court judgments to argue that the burden of proof is on the investigators to show that Dimple's assets were not benami. Until then her assets, cannot be clubbed with Mulayam. Despite this controversial opinion, a month later the CBI, in a virtual admission of the political instructions, told the court that 'in view of the legal advice and directions of the Union of India', they want to withdraw the case against the Yadavs. The court reserved judgement for three years, finally ruling in December last year that Dimple should be excluded from the investigation since she is a private citizen, despite her proximity to Akhilesh Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Now as the UPA seeks Mulayam Singh Yadav's support for the Food Bill, the CBI has a handy excuse in the Supreme Court order. CBI sources told us that Dimple's exclusion is the main reason why they are about to finally close the chapter on Mulayam's investigation. This would be a blatant ignoring of the evidence in their own preliminary report that Dimple's wealth, is only a fraction of the wealth of the Yadav family. ..

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/truth-vs-hype-the-house-of-yadavs-400928