Prime Minister Narendra and Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav in Saifai in April 2015. Credit: PTI
New Delhi: Unmindful of the manner in which whistle-blowers and witnesses in high-profile cases like the Vyapam scam and Asaram Bapu rape scandal have been killed or targeted, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs on Wednesday withdrew the ‘Y’ category security cover being provided to Vishwanath Chaturvedi—lead petitioner in the disproportionate assets case against Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and his sons.
The withdrawal of security, Chaturvedi told The Wire, was a clear indication of the growing closeness between the Samajwadi Party leader and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on whose behalf Mulayam recently stood up against the Congress in the Lok Sabha.
Chaturvedi claimed that Mulayam has been cosying up to Modi as he is afraid that otherwise the Centre might use the Central Bureau of Investigation to tighten the noose around him and his family.
Earlier this year, soon after Modi had attended a wedding ceremony in Yadav’s family in April, Chaturvedi had stated that the SP leader was helping the BJP and Modi in various situations to keep them happy. “This is because the CBI can change its posture in the case and make Mulayam’s life miserable,” he had told Mail Today at the time.
“Moreover, even though the egoist leaders of Janata Parivar parties may accept Mulayam as their leader for the time being, the SP chief himself knows that he will become too weak after the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections,” he was quoted as saying.
Chaturvedi, who is now staying in New Rajinder Nagar, told The Wire that he had moved to Delhi in 2006, soon after Yadav got his Lucknow house bulldozed. “I was granted security then by the MHA and later after it was withdrawn at the time of the nuclear deal in 2008 [when the SP backed the Congress], the Supreme Court stepped in and got me the security. In my ‘Y’ category, I had four armed guards at my residence and a Personal Security Officer. But, today this security was withdrawn.”
Chaturvedi alleged that in the past too, when the Congress was in power, it used to leverage its position with the Samajwadi Party through the disproportionate assets case.
He said the matter is still pending in the Supreme Court, which had reserved its judgment on February 10, 2009.
“The CBI had told the court in 2007 that prima facie a case was made out against the SP leader and others and had sought permission for registering a proper case. It had also filed a status report,” said Chaturvedi, who is also a practicing advocate in the Supreme Court.
The CBI subsequently said it wished to close the case and the matter is pending adjudication by the apex court.
The CBI’s original report: