India’s Supreme Court has asked Kumari Mayawati, chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, to justify spending an estimated $425m in public money to erect statues of herself, her political mentor, her party symbol and other monuments in one of the country’s poorest states.

In a public interest litigation presented to the court on Monday, two lawyers asked the bench to order India’s central bureau of investigation to investigate the misuse of public development money on monuments to “falsely glorify” the chief minister.