A BJP ticket aspirant for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly bypoll last year has been booked by the CBI for allegedly sending a forged letter of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, recommending his name.
The accused has been identified as Shivaji Yadav, a resident of Jaunpur in U.P. The agency is trying to determine the identity of others, if any, involved in the case.
The CBI initiated an inquiry against unknown persons in September 2019, following receipt of a complaint from an Assistant Director with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), along with a copy of the letter purportedly sent by the U.P. Chief Minister to Mr. Modi, requesting that a BJP ticket be allotted to Mr. Yadav for the byelection.
The inquiry was entrusted to a Superintendent of Police. The agency found that the letter had not been issued by Mr. Adityanath. It was sent to the PMO from a sub-post office in Jaunpur’s Badlapur on June 13, 2019.
The post office records mentioned the sender’s name as Sandeep Singh. The sender’s mobile phone number had also been mentioned on the envelope. When confronted, Mr. Singh denied having sent any such letter and identified the handwriting on the envelope as that of his close friend and neighbour, Mr. Yadav. The suspect was also a batch-mate of Mr. Singh’s wife, who was then pursuing her B.Ed. course.
Further probe established that the mobile number mentioned on the envelope and in the letter belonged to Mr. Yadav. His friend also confirmed the same.
An analysis of call records of Mr. Yadav’s mobile phone revealed that on June 13 last year, the date of letter dispatch, its location was also at Badlapur, prima facie indicating his involvement.
Mr. Yadav was in regular touch with Vishal, who informed the agency that the former worked as an agent for preparing caste, domicile and income certificates of local residents. He had kept a laptop and a colour printer at home for the purpose. Mr. Vishal also disclosed that Mr. Yadav was fond of politics and was trying for a BJP ticket for the U.P. Assembly byelection last year.
