India's supreme court has asked Kumari Mayawati, chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, to justify spending an estimated $425m (£257m) in public money to erect statues of herself, her political mentor, her party symbol and other monuments.

In a public interest litigation presented to the court yesterday, 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. This is public money "which should be used for the public welfare", Ravi Kant, a lawyer and one of the two petitioners, told journalists.