India, State, Uttar Pradesh

Akhilesh govt. paid Rs 21 lakh as lawyers fee : RTI

Akhilesh govt. paid Rs 21 lakh as lawyers fee : RTI

TIL Desk/National/Lucknow/ The Akhilesh Yadav government had paid Rs 21.15 lakh as fee to senior lawyers of the Supreme Court engaged to save suspended Noida Chief Engineer Yadav Singh from facing CBI probe in graft and money laundering cases, according to an RTI response. As per the RTI information provided by Surendra Pal Singh, Special Secretary (Law), four senior lawyers were engaged by the previous Akhilesh Yadav government.

Kapil Sibal was given a fee of Rs 8.80 lakh, Harish Salve Rs 5.00 lakh, Rakesh Dwivedi Rs 4.05 lakh and Dinesh Dwivedi Rs 3.30 lakh, taking the total to Rs 21.25 lakh, claimed activist Nutan Thakur citing the response to her RTI plea. Yadav Singh was arrested by the CBI in February last year for allegedly abusing his official position in awarding contracts and causing wrongful loss to the government exchequer.

The Enforcement Directorate has attached assets worth Rs 19.92 crore in a money laundering case that involves the former Noida chief engineer. Nutan had filed a PIL in Allahabad High Court in the matter. Its Lucknow bench had directed that the Yadav Singh case be transferred to CBI. The UP government had appealed against this order before the Supreme Court but it was dismissed at the first hearing itself on July 16, 2015.

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