Lucknow: After a controversy recently erupted over the appointment of Uttar Pradesh basic education minister Satish Chandra Dwivedi’s brother as an assistant professor, the minister is now himself facing flak over his involvement in the purchase of land worth Rs 1.26 crore for a mere Rs 20 lakh. Three other plots purchased in his mother’s name after he joined office are also under the scanner.

The matter has been raised by Aam Aadmi Party’s Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh as well as other Congress and Samajwadi Party leaders who are demanding a probe into the minister’s assets and his immediate sacking from the cabinet.

Although Arun Kumar Dwivedi, the minister’s brother, tendered his resignation on May 26 after an uproar against his appointment as assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Sidharth University Kapilvastu, the controversy has refused to die down. Leaders of opposition parties are demanding an inquiry into the economically weaker section (EWS) certificate issued to Arun as well as land deals worth more than Rs 2 crore carried out in two years by Satish and his family.

Opposition parties have released images of allegedly Benami deeds of one residential and three agricultural plots of land purchased in a period of two years by the minister and his mother. Copies of the documents have been circulating on social media for the past few days.

The benami land deeds reveal that Satish purchased 0.784 hectares of agricultural land for Rs 20 lakh on November 16, 2019, which had a market value of Rs 1.26 crore at the time. Similarly, his mother Kalindi Devi and one Deepa w/o Arjun jointly purchased 350 square meters of residential land in Kamda Lalpur on December 16, 2019, for Rs 12 lakh, though its market value was Rs 65.45 lakh. In addition, she bought 0.0362 hectares of land on November 18, 2020, which had a market value of Rs 22.01 lakh, for Rs 20 lakh. Another plot of land spread over ​​0.281 hectares was purchased on January 2, 2021 for Rs 8 lakh, though its market value was Rs 23.61 lakh.

In total, Satish and his mother have purchased one residential and three agricultural plots of land since November 2019. Together, the market price of the four plots of land was Rs 2.37 crore at the time of purchase, but they were bought for only Rs 60 lakh.It is noteworthy that all the purchases were made after Satish was appointed minister. The plot for which the benami deed bears the minister’s name was purchased just two months after he joined the cabinet.

Satish was appointed the minister of basic education (independent charge) on August 21, 2019, during the expansion of chief minister Adityanath’s cabinet. It came as a shock to many veteran BJP leaders when the first-time MLA from the Itwa assembly constituency was handed a cabinet berth.

Satish, who has been an organiser with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), was only 38 years old when he was elected an MLA in 2017. He was then an associate professor in the Department of Economics at Buddha PG College in Kushinagar district.According to the affidavit he filed while contesting the Vidhan Sabha elections, the total movable and immovable property of Satish and his wife was worth Rs 1.12 crore.

According to the affidavit, before becoming MLA, Satish owned two acres of agricultural land worth Rs 35 lakh in his village Shanichara, 1,000-square-feet non-agricultural land worth Rs 8 lakh in Lucknow and a 2,000-square-feet residential property worth Rs 5 lakh in Shanichara market. His wife owned 3,000 square feet of non-agricultural land worth Rs 30 lakh in Mahadev Jharkhandi, Gorakhpur.

As per the income tax return filed in 2016-17, Satish’s annual income was Rs 17,44,040 while his wife’s income was shown as Rs 7,00,878.In a video statement, AAP leader Sanjay Singh has demanded that an inquiry committee be immediately set up. After releasing the allegedly benami land papers in the media, Singh claimed that he is going to make several such records public in the coming days. He sought to know why action has not been taken against the minister till now for securing his brother a job allegedly on a forged certificate.

Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) spokesperson Ashok Singh issued a statement demanding that the government should direct the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and a current high court judge to probe disproportionate assets amassed by the minister and his family in a short span of time. He also demanded Satish’s immediate dismissal from office. He alleged that the minister carried out a forgery to get his brother appointed as an assistant professor and abused power. He added that the minister should explain how and from where he earned the amount spent soon after he became a minister.

The UPCC leader asked when the Adityanath-led UP government, known for taking swift action against those raising their voice for their rights and journalists reporting failures of the state government, will file a case against its own minister and dismiss him from the cabinet.

Meanwhile, a new fact has come to light regarding the EWS certificate issued to Arun – that the certificate was issued within 24 hours of the application. The lekhpal and revenue inspector submitted their inquiry report on the affidavit given by the applicant while the tehsildar issued the certificate without any verification or investigation.

Sharing the copies of Arun’s application for the EWS certificate, the lekhpal’s report and the order of the tehsildar on her Facebook wall, activist Nutan Thakur wrote, “In UP, it takes only a day for an income certificate to be issued! Minister Satish Dwivedi’s brother submitted the application on 29.11.2019, Tehsildar and RI asked for immediate report, Lekhpal and RI submitted immediate report, Tehsildar gave immediate order and the certificate was issued on 29.11.2019 itself. This is the pace at which things are done in the Yogi government! Now, don’t say that it was a mantriji’s case!”

Satish, whose rise in politics has been quite swift, has been mired in several controversies within 21 months after being given a ministerial berth. The two most recent ones though – his brother’s appointment and his land purchases – seem to be hitting the hardest.