New Delhi: Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and BSP supremo Mayawati on Friday welcomed the Supreme Court order quashing the CBI probe against her and thanked her supporters.
"I thank Satish Mishra for fighting my case in the Supreme Court. I thank the BSP party workers for showing patience and supporting me while the case was on against me," Mayawati said.
"The workers did not get perturbed and kept their struggle on as they knew that 'behenji' is dedicated to take ahead the message from the life struggles of Babasaheb Ambedkar and Kashi Ram," she said.
Soon after the court order, celebrations broke out at the BSP office with cadres distributing sweets.
While the BSP supremo was elated with the relief given by the Supreme Court in the disproportionate assets case, the Samajwadi Party was disappointed and said the CBI did not handle the case well.
Samajwadi Party leader Mohan Singh said that the CBI did not handle the case effectively. "The CBI was a bit lax in its investigation and handling of the case. Had it taken more efforts, the Supreme Court wouldn't have given such a verdict.
Attacking Mayawati, Mohan Singh said, "A sitting Chief Minister's assets increase ten folds during the time she is the CM, if it is not disproportionate assets, then what is it?"
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rubbished BSP's allegations of a political conspiracy against Mayawati.
BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said, "Allegations by the BSP are not true. In 2003, the NDA government was there only for a few months. Since then the UPA is in power for 8 years, which Mayawati has been supporting."
Lawyer and Mayawati's confidante Satish Mishra had earlier said that the CBI filed the FIR under pressure from the then BJP government.
In a breather to Mayawati, the Supreme Court on Friday quashed a CBI probe against her in the disproportionate assets case and also pulled up the CBI for initiating the probe against her without specific directions from the court.
The court said that the CBI should not have lodged an FIR against Mayawati as there was no direction from it. "We are satisfied that we didn't issue any direction to probe alleged disproportionate assets of Mayawati between 1995-2003," the court said.
The apex court observed that the CBI FIR was unwarranted and the central agency proceeded without understanding its order in the Taj corridor case. "The CBI proceeded against Mayawati without properly understanding our order. Anything beyond Taj Corridor scam was not subject matter of this court. There is no finding and no material report pertaining to the DA case against Mayawati," the court said.
A bench headed by Justice P Sathasivam clarified that the Supreme Court order pertained to initiating probe against state government officials in the scam and there was no such direction to lodge another FIR exclusively against Mayawati for allegedly amassing assets disproportionate to her known sources of income.
The apex court said there is no finding in the CBI's status report of September 2008 that Mayawati had allegedly amassed disproportionate assets during the period 1995-2003. "There is no material report of disproportionate assets case against the petitioner (Mayawati) in the Taj Corridor scam," the bench said while referring to the probe agency's status report.
The court further said that its order of 2002 was specifically pertaining to Taj Corridor case and there was no direction for lodging an FIR against Mayawati as was done by the CBI.
While reading out the operative part of its judgment, the bench observed there was "no such direction to lodge another FIR under Prevention of Corruption Act exclusively against Mayawati".
(With additional information from PTI)
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