New Delhi: After Akhilesh Yadav's pet project of Lucknow-Agra expressway came under scanner for an alleged scam in the acquisition, another suspected scam running into almost Rs 1,200 crore from the time of former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati has come under the lens of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The premier investigative agency lodged an FIR in a case of alleged irregularities in the disinvestment of 21 state-owned sugar mills leading to a loss of Rs1179 crore to the state exchequer. 

The alleged irregularities took place in the year 2010-11 when Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati was in power in Uttar Pradesh.

Seven private persons have been named in the FIR charged with forging documents while purchasing the sugar mills of UP. 

The CBI had taken over the investigation and details of the FIR from the local police. So far the FIR does not name any UP government official or politician. 

Principal secretary (home) Arvind Kumar had written to the Centre seeking a CBI probe in the alleged scam in April 2018. 

After the registration of FIR, six preliminary enquiries (PE) have been initiated.