New Delhi:
The Supreme Court is expected to deliver its verdict today in the disproportionate assets case against former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati.
In 2008, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief had filed a petition, seeking quashing of the criminal proceedings against her in the case that was filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2004. Ms Mayawati has accused the CBI of carrying out political vendetta against her, saying the case should be closed as the Income Tax Tribunal has given her a clean chit, which has been upheld by the Delhi High Court.
The CBI, on the other hand, has maintained that it has ample evidence to show that the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister had amassed wealth, disproportionate to her known sources of income.
After losing the assembly elections to current Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party (SP), Ms Mayawati shared the details of her property, cash and jewellery when she filed her nomination for the Rajya Sabha in March this year. The declaration revealed that Mayawati's assets were worth Rs 111 crore.
Behenji, as the former Chief Minister is known, had said she has 380 carats of diamonds, and one kilogram of gold. Together, these are worth just under a crore. Her silver dinner set, which weighs nearly 20 kgs, is worth Rs 9 lakhs.
Her immovable assets - largely property - add upto Rs 96 crores. This includes two shops in Delhi's Connaught Place, a home worth Rs 62 crores on Sardar Patel Marg, one of Delhi's most sought-after neighbourhoods, and a home in Lucknow worth Rs 15 crores.
In May 2010, her assets were worth Rs 87 crores.