Lucknow, April 21 (IANS): The Uttar Pradesh government has suspended Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Rajeev Kumar who was convicted in 2012 in a Noida plot allotment scam and was sent to prison earlier this week.

Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday signed the order for the suspension of Rajiv Kumar, who was former deputy chief executive officer of New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (Noida), officials said on Thursday. 

Considered close to both Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Rajiv Kumar was accused of misusing his position as an official of Noida in the 1990s in making illegal allotments of plots of land.

The state government kept the officer in the administration despite his conviction in 2012. Also, it took no immediate action against Rajiv Kumar even after he was taken in judicial custody on Monday and sent to Dasna jail in Ghaziabad.

Akhilesh Yadav signed the suspension order on Wednesday only after Allahabad High Court sought a response from the state government as to what action it had taken in the matter.

A CBI court had in November 2012 convicted Rajiv Kumar and Neera Yadav, the then chief executive officer (CEO) of Noida, of illegal land allotment and sentenced each of them to three-year jail terms. 

Soon after their conviction, the two officers got bail from a sessions court in Ghaziabad as their three-year sentence did not require immediate arrest. 

They challenged their conviction and sentence by filing appeals in the Allahabad High Court which dismissed their appeals on February 24 this year.

Neera Yadav surrendered on March 14 and is also lodged in Dasna jail.