NEW DELHI, Aug 22: A national watchdog on Monday asked India’s Supreme Court to prosecute a former top politician for approving a project to build a garish shopping mall near the 17th-century Taj Mahal.

The Central Vigilance Commission told the court it had evidence that Mayawati, former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, was linked to a scandal involving the 1.75-billion-rupee (40-million-dollar) project.

Opponents of Mayawati say she took bribes from builders during her three-month stint as state chief minister two years ago and authorized the building of the mall in a no-construction zone near the world-famous monument to love. She denies corruption.

Horrified conservationists had equated the project to the destruction of ancient statues of Buddha in Afghanistan’s Bamiyan province by the hardline Taliban regime.—AFP