LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav on Friday sought a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the killing of children at Nithari in Noida and the murder of Kavita Rani, a lecturer in Chaudhry Charan Singh University in Meerut.

The Chief Minister has thus put an end to allegations that the Samajwadi Party Government was trying to sweep the two incidents under the carpet in a bid to shield some influential persons.

At a press conference here, Mr. Yadav also announced that the Nithari victims' families would be allotted housing plots, and the Government was looking into their demand for jobs.

He slammed the Opposition, especially the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, for politicising the Nithari killings. He accused both parties of playing politics over the dead bodies of children.

There had been a strong demand from these parties and others for a CBI inquiry as they felt that the Noida police ``totally failed'' to act on reports of missing persons.

Citing the letter written to him by Governor T.V. Rajeswar and the Opposition demand as the reasons for referring the cases to the CBI, Mr. Yadav stressed that his Government was not insensitive to the macabre killing of juveniles and the murder of Kavita Rani.

The letter for CBI investigation would be immediately sent to the Union Home Ministry.

Both issues had rocked the State Government. The alleged liaison of two Ministers and a former one with Kavita Rani (whose body is yet to be retrieved) complicated matters further.

Minister will continue

To a question about his Cabinet colleague Kiran Pal Singh, who allegedly had links with Kavitha Rani, Mr. Yadav said he would not resign.

Mr. Yadav said whether it was the killing of Dalits in Mainpuri in the late 1980s, the murder of children in Delhi, the alleged molestation of a woman in Mumbai on New Year's Eve, the saree tragedy in Lucknow, the Gujarat communal riots or the Jessica Lal case, he had not politicised any case.

`Not taking lightly'

The Chief Minister denied that PWD Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav took the Nithari killings lightly. He further stated that he would visit Noida when the need arose.

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