In the audio clip that has surfaced on social media, Swati Singh is heard questioning Beenu Singh.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath knew about the case involving real estate giant Ansal Developers and there were "orders from above" to close the case, Uttar Pradesh Minister Swati Singh has purportedly told a state police officer, demanding that she close the case. The audio clip of the conversation, which was widely circulated, had landed the minister in hot water, with the Chief Minister asking the state police chief to submit a report on the matter within 24 hours. Yogi Adityanath had also summoned the minister.
While the audio clip does not indicate the case under discussion, Ansal API's Vice Chairman Pranav Ansal was detained at the Delhi airport in September in connection with a case involving criminal breach of trust, cheating, and forgery. He was later brought to Lucknow and sent to jail.
In the audio clip that has surfaced on social media, Swati Singh is heard questioning Beenu Singh, the Circle Officer of Lucknow Cantonment, about an FIR filed against Ansal Developers. NDTV could not verify the authenticity of the video, where the minister is heard questioning the officer why the FIR was filed that she should finish it.
"Why did you write it? Are you not aware that there is an order from above that no FIR will be written right now? All these fake FIR's are being filed against him," she is heard saying.
When the officer explained that an inquiry was conducted before the FIR was registered, the minister said, "What inquiry? It is such a high profile case. Even the CM knows about the case. What inquiry have you done. You have been posted here for just 4- 5 days?"
Then insisting it is all fake, the minister is heard saying, "Finish this matter. Come and sit with me one day if you want to work here. I don't ask for anything wrong. You can find out".
The opposition Samajwadi Party and the Congress have attacked the Yogi Adityanath government over the matter.
In a tweet today, the Congress's Priyanka Gandhi Vadra sad, "Minister of UP government is saying that orders are from above, who is above and who doesn't want any action against the scamsters, DHFL, SIDCO, home guard salary scam, LDA scam, no action has been initiated against the big fish".
"The matter is high profile and is under the cognizance of the Chief Minister. What inquiry will you do? Come and sit down" is this the zero tolerance for corruption which the Chief Minister is not tired of speaking about? Shame!," the Samajwadi Party tweeted yesterday.