Probe ordered on damage done by Akhilesh, staff at official residence
Lucknow, June 11: The Uttar Pradesh government has ordered a probe into the damages done in the residences of former Chief Ministers Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav before they were vacated over the weekend on directives of the Supreme Court, an official said on Monday.
"We have the inventory of these houses and they would be matched with whatever was there at the time the possession was taken back by the Rajya Sampatti Vibhaag.... after a detailed list of the missing items is prepared, notice would be issued and recoveries would be made," a senior Estate Department official told here.
The matching of the items, including lights and other fixtures, would also be done at the residences of former Chief Ministers Kalyan Singh, Mayawati and Rajnath Singh, the official added.
Former Chief Minister Narayan Dutt Tiwari, who is critically ill and admitted at a Delhi hospital, however has not vacated his official residence and his wife has sought one year which has been rejected by the Estate Department. The extended deadline of June 3, given on compassionate grounds, is also over.
Rajya Sampatti Adhikari Yogesh Shukla said that anyone who has damaged government property will not be spared and recoveries will be done as per law.
An Estate Department team, which went on Saturday to the 4, Vikramditya Marg residence allocated to Akhilesh Yadav after he left it, said the former Chief Minister had left the house, built under his watch at a cost of Rs 42 crore, in bad shape.
Officials, accompanied with photographers, got the residence photographed extensively to show the damages done when the property was being vacated. Officials told that barring a marble temple in one corner of the house, the entire house had been damaged.
Expensive floor and wall tiles, lamination, and marble slabs have been damaged beyond repair and the electricity switch boards, switches have also been ripped off, said an official. All the air-conditioning ducts in the centrally air-conditioned house, which was rebuilt and renovated by the then SP government at the fag end of its tenure, have been plucked out, he added.
The all-weather swimming pool has also been filled with sand while the imported tiles it was lined with have all been broken, an official told IANS. Iron angles can be seen protruding at various places and many gates inside the house have also been damaged, they said.
Tiles of the badminton court, as well as the nets have also been ripped off and all the ACs, TV, furniture, and fans have also been shifted out, the official said while pointing out that they will now check the inventory of the stuff sanctioned to him and will cross check it with whatever is left behind.
As soon as pictures of the damaged house came out in the public domain, the BJP and SP leaders engaged in a verbal spat, with several state ministers slamming Akhilesh Yadav for damaging many parts of his house before vacating it "grudgingly".
Transport Minister Swatantra Dev Singh said such damage was "saddening" and in fact was a contempt of the apex court, while BJP spokesman Rakesh Tripathi said the "mindset and the culture" of Akhilesh Yadav had been exposed now.
Samajwadi Party spokesman Rajendra Chowdhary however has denied these charges saying the government has deliberately hatched this conspiracy to defame their party chief.
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B'desh: Lawyer killed in clash between security personnel, followers of Hindu leader
Dhaka, Nov 26: A lawyer was killed on Tuesday during clashes between the security personnel and followers of a Hindu community leader, who was denied bail and sent to jail by a Bangladesh court, according to local media reports.
The victim was identified as Saiful Islam, a 35-year-old assistant public prosecutor and a member of the Chattogram District Bar Association, the Dhaka Tribune newspaper reported.
Citing Dr Nibedita Ghosh, a duty doctor at the emergency department of Chittagong Medical College Hospital, the paper said that six others were injured in the clashes that erupted after Chattogram’s Sixth Metropolitan Magistrate court denied bail to prominent Hindu leader Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, arrested on sedition charges.
Nazim Uddin Chowdhury, president of the Chittagong Lawyers' Association, said that protesters dragged a lawyer from beneath his chamber and hacked him to death.
As Das was being taken away in a police van, he addressed the crowd through a hand mike, urging them to remain calm.
Around 3 pm, the law enforcement agencies resorted to sound grenades, tear gas shells, and baton charges, dispersing the protesters.
Deputy Commissioner of City Police Liaquat Ali confirmed one death but said they were still investigating the cause.
The Daily Star newspaper reported that at least 10 people, including journalists, were injured during the clash.
