Author: Purusharth Aradhak,TNN
Publication: The Times of India
Date: December 1, 2014
URL:   http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/noida/15-linked-to-graft-accused-to-be-quizzed/articleshow/45329870.cms

A diary recovered from the house of Yadav Singh, the former Noida engineer-in-chief accused of orchestrating a Rs 954 crore tenders scam, has thrown up 22 names, sleuths in the income tax department revealed on Sunday, indicating the investigation will widen to other officials of the Noida Authority as well as the state government.

 Of the 22 people named, 15 will be questioned soon, said sources in the I-T department, which conducted raids on Singh's bungalow in Noida and at Meenu Creation, a company in which his wife Kusum Lata is a director, last week.

 The diary, written in code, is believed to contain details of kickbacks related to the contracts and could blow the lid off an ensconced politician-bureaucrat-businessman nexus in UP, officials feel.

The investigation, sources said, will not only focus on kickbacks from contracts but allotment of land and other infrastructure projects by the Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna expressway authorities as Singh functioned as engineer-in-chief of all three.

 "Yadav Singh cannot be the only officer involved in corruption. One person alone cannot run the show," said an official in the I-T department. "For instance, several officers are involved in the land allotment process. We need to examine if Noida Authority officials followed government policies," the official added.

 The somber mood in the Noida Authority was reflected in the words of a senior officer, who told this correspondent, "Nobody knows when I-T or other investigating agencies will call us for investigation."

On Friday, Noida Authority CEO Rama Raman cancelled contracts awarded during Singh's tenure as engineer-in-chief and removed him from his post.

 Krishna Saini, director-general (investigation) in the I-T department, said, "We have asked the Noida Authority to share some documents. At this point, we can't say how long this investigation will take."

 Raman said the Noida Authority would fully cooperate with the probe. "Till late Sunday evening, the Authority did not receive any formal letter from the I-T department on sharing documents. The letter could reach us by Monday," Raman said.