The Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided a string of locations across states on Thursday in connection with its probe into the Rs 1,500-crore Gomti riverfront development project in Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow.The agency carried out raids at Lucknow and Noida in Uttar Pradesh as well as places in Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan.The ED teams are looking for documents and evidence, they said. The central probe agency had filed a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in March last year, on the basis of an FIR filed by theCentral Bureau of Investigation (CBI).The CBI had taken over the investigation after the present Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in Uttar Pradesh ordered an inquiry into the beautification project of the Gomti riverfront which was carried out by the previous Samajwadi Party (SP) dispensation.The state government had alleged that irregularities were committed while executing the project with a "criminal intent" in the implementation of the Gomti River Channelisation Project and the Gomti River Front Development by the state's irrigation department.The CBI had filed an FIR against then chief engineers Gulesh Chandra, SN Sharma, Qazim Ali, then superintendent engineers Mangal Yadav, Akhil Raman, Kamaleshwar Singh, Roop Singh Yadav and executive engineer Surendra Yadav.It is pertinent to mention that Gulesh Chandra, Mangal Yadav, Akhil Raman and Roop Singh Yadav have now retired.The state government had constituted a committee under retired Allahabad High Court judge Alok Kumar Singh which had indicated prima facie irregularities in the project in its report dated May 16, 2017.The state government subsequently sought a CBI probe into the matter in July 2017.The Centre referred the matter to the CBI on November 24, 2017 on the basis of which the agency took over the investigation in the matter.

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Beauty & Beast

  • Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in UP had ordered an inquiry into the beautification of riverfront carried out by previous SP dispensation.
  • It had irregularities by the state’s irrigation department while it was executing the project.
  • Following this, CBI had filed an FIR against engineers of the project  in 2017