Lucknow, June 11: Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has been charged with stealing and damaging the state bungalow that he vacated. The Yogi Adityanath government has launched a probe against Akhilesh Yadav on charges of theft. Akhilesh Yadav allegedly left the government bungalow he had been occupying until a few days ago, in shambles.

Akhilesh Yadav on the other hand has blamed officials. "These officials who were picking up cups and plates when I was the CM are now maligning my image," he said.

The pictures and video clips of the bungalow vacated by Akhilesh showed damage to a cycle track, damage to walls after air-conditioners seemed to have been removed and to the floor of what seemed to be a badminton court at the bungalow. The bathroom fitting and tiles of floors were also reportedly missing.

The BJP mocked the SP chief, saying the damage done at the bungalow showed Yadav’s “frustration”. UP transport and protocol minister Swatantra Dev Singh on Sunday said that Akhilesh had violated the Supreme Court’s order. He also asked for an investigation into the matter.

“Removing of ACs and tiles should not have been done because these are government properties. He has violated SC order. An investigation is needed,” Singh told ANI.

Refuting the charges, Samajwadi Party’s Sunil Yadav instead blamed Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and said that he was the one who had ordered the removal of various things from the property after the former chief minister vacated the same.

The Supreme Court had on May 7 ordered that former UP chief ministers cannot retain government accommodation in Lucknow. Following the SC order, the UP estates department had issued notices to six former chief ministers – Narayan Dutt Tiwari, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Kalyan Singh, Mayawati, Rajnath Singh and Akhilesh Yadav.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 11, 2018 04:51 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).