Lucknow, June 12 (TIWN) The CBI on Wednesday carried out searches at over 21 locations in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, including the residence of former state Minister Gayatri Prajapati in connection with a case of illegal sand mining between 2012 and 2016, officials said.

The CBI started investigating the case on the directions of the Allahabad High Court in January this year. A senior Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) official told IANS: "Several CBI teams started the searches at over 21 places in Uttar Pradesh this morning. The CBI team also raided three residential premises of former Uttar Pradesh Minister Prajapati in Amethi." The official said that searches at the residence of Prajapati was carried out after the CBI collected the documents related to mining from the residence of Adil Khan which indicated that the licence was provided on the recommendation of then state Mining Minister Gayatri Prajapati. The official said that besides Delhi and Amethi, the searches were carried out in Ghaziabad, Lucknow, Hamirpur and adjoining areas in Uttar Pradesh. He also said that during the searches, incriminating documents have been recovered relating to the investigation of the case.