The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday searched six locations in Lucknow in connection with an alleged scam in building memorials for Dalit leaders across Uttar Pradesh, Times Now reported. Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati had constructed these memorials when her government was in power between 2002 and 2007.

Enforcement Directorate officials said the investigation agency has filed a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, according to PTI. The agency’s decision to file a case is based on a complaint by the state’s vigilance department in 2014.

The complaint alleged irregularities in the construction of memorials, especially those of the Bahujan Samaj Party’s election symbol of elephant, and of its founder Kanshi Ram. The irregularities “resulted in the loss of over Rs 111 crore to the government exchequer and unlawful gain to public servants and private individuals”, the department had said.

The Uttar Pradesh Lokayukta had indicted two cabinet ministers in the Mayawati government – Nasmeedunin Siddiqui and Babu Singh Kushwaha – and 12 Bahujan Samaj Party MLAs for “wrong-doings” in the purchase of sandstone for the memorials. The vigilance department filed its case based on the Lokayukta’s report.

The Bahujan Samaj Party and Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party have formed an alliance in Uttar Pradesh for the 2019 General Elections. Last month, the Central Bureau of Investigation conducted searches in connection with an illegal sand mining case at 14 locations in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. Unidentified officials said the agency may investigate Yadav, who was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh between 2012 and 2017, and former minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati in this connection.