Lucknow: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Samajwadi Party MLC Ramesh Kumar Mishra to appear before them today, in connection with an alleged illegal mining case in the state. The ED registered the case on January 17 against 11 people including IAS officer B. Chandrakal and Ramesh Mishra.

The case is based on a CBI FIR to probe the role of state mining ministers, including former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav during 2012-16. Akhilesh Yadav and former cabinet minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati had allegedly approved illegal sand mining tenders during their tenure as mining ministers, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sources had claimed on January, 7.

"We have adequately looked into the case after preliminary inquiry. The main focus of the inquiry was to look into the illegality of the approval given. Both Akhilesh Yadav and Gayatri Prajapati had given approval when they were mining ministers," the sources had claimed. The CBI had initiated a probe in the alleged illegal mining case in 2016 on directions of the Allahabad High Court. The cases of illegal mining were recorded from seven districts of Uttar Pradesh namely Shamli, Kaushambi, Fatehpur, Deoria, Saharanpur, Hamirpur and Siddharthnagar.

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