Lucknow, October 27 (IANS) The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Uttar Pradesh police will now investigate the case against high profile Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh, accused of a Rs.500 crore fraud, officials said Tuesday.
A formal decision was taken by the state government late Tuesday night, a state home department spokesman said.

A police station in Kanpur, where the case was initially registered, has been asked to hand over all files related to the case to the EOW, which is empowered to deal with such matters, involving fudging of corporate financial books and siphoning of funds from one pocket company to another.

The case, lodged by local lawyer Shiv Kant Tripathi, accused Amar Singh of using illegal means not only in bringing about merger of a number of companies into six companies owned by him, but also in artificially raising the shares of these companies.

Initially the Uttar Pradesh government had passed on the FIR to the Kolkata police on the plea that the companies referred to in the FIR were based there. However, the Kolkata police returned the FIR with the remark that UP police was free to initiate action in the matter as the Kolkata address of the companies did not bar the Uttar Pradesh police from proceeding in the case.