The CBI has registered a fresh case in the alleged irregularities in the ambitious Gomti river front project in Lucknow, which was undertaken during the tenure of the previous Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh, where assembly polls are due next year.

The agency started a massive search operation at 42 locations in 13 districts of Uttar Pradesh, Alwar in Rajasthan and Calcutta in Bengal on Monday following the registration of FIR, officials said.

The operation, which started early in the morning, is going on and it may be expanded during the course of the day, they said.

The officials said that 189 Uttar Pradesh government officers, including the then engineers, and others are named as accused in the FIR.

This is the second FIR related to the project by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

In the 2022 UP assembly elections, the Samajwadi Party, under Akhilesh Yadav, the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party, the Congress, among others, will try to wrest the state from the BJP.