Lokayukta team to verify Rajbhar’s claim of ‘donations’

A team of investigating officers from Lokayukta office will verify the details of 493 persons from Ambedkar Nagar district, who are believed to have provided donations to a trust run by former minister and BSP state president Ram Achal Rajbhar.

Lokayukta NK Mehrotra who is probing the allegations of disproportionate assets against Rajbhar, was given a list of 493 donors who provided Rs 24.35 lakh to Rajbhar's trust — named Ram Awadh Foundation Trust — between 1997 and 2009. Rajbhar, in his reply to the allegations of disproportionate assets amassed by him and his family, had described the donations to his trust as one of his sources of income. Rajbhar is founder-member of the trust.

Rajbhar who was transport minister in the previous BSP regime, has also shown the money along with the interest collected from his debtors as one of the sources of his income. According to Lokayukta, Rajbhar has claimed that his two daughters-in-law, Chandrawati Devi and Kanchan Rajbhar, had lent Rs 32.48 lakh and Rs 14.53 lakh respectively in 2006-07. While Chandrawati lent money to 210 persons, Kanchan lent funds to 95 persons.

Mehrotra said in addition to this, as many as 47 persons were lent a total of Rs 7.62 lakh by Rajbhar's brother Ram Karan. Mehrotra said the claims made by Rajbhar in the list of donors will be verified by his office from the concerned donors.

Meanwhile, the Economic Offences Wing of UP Police, which is conducting an inquiry in the alleged irregularities in the purchase of sandstone for construction of various parks and memorials during BSP regime, has submitted a preliminary report to the Lokayukta. The report contains the statements of 60 government officials and sandstone quarry lease holders who were involved in the sale and purchase of the sandstone.

Mehrotra said it was a preliminary report and he had not yet fully studied it, but it has established the allegation made in the preliminary report of the Directorate of Geology and Mining that the rates of sandstone were fixed arbitrarily by the UP Rajkiya Nirman Nigam without any tender or competitive bidding.

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