E-Paper
FIR against Congress MLA for ‘illegal’ plot allotment in 2004; he says fake case
An FIR by the Madhya Pradesh EoW said the Bhopal Development Authority alloted land to a firm linked to Hemant Katare in an illegal manner and its use was also changed in an illegal manner to make it commercial
Bhopal: The Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of the Madhya Pradesh police on Wednesday filed a first information report (FIR) against deputy leader of Opposition in the state assembly and Congress MLA Hemant Katare and his family members along with officials of the Bhopal Development Authority (BDA) in connection with alleged fraud in allotment of plots under Inter-State Bus Terminal Scheme in Bhopal.
The FIR was registered 10 years after registering a Preliminary Enquiry and 21 years after allotment of land to M/s High Speed Motors owned by Katare’s family.
Katare called this a “fake case” and “political vendetta to suppress the voice of opposition”.
According to the FIR, the plots were allotted against rules in Inter-State Bus Terminal Scheme, and later the land use of the plot was changed to commercial. M/s High Speed Motors’ partners Hemant Katare, Yogesh Katare and others benefited in an improper manner without tender, it said.
The case was registered on the basis of a complaint filed by C R Dutta, a resident of Harshvardhan Nagar Bhopal.
“EOW received a complaint through General Administration Department regarding illegal benefit given to M/s High Speed Motors in connection with land allotment by colluding with officials of Bhopal Development Authority (BDA) in allotment of plots in Kushabhau Thackeray Inter-State Bus Terminal Scheme in May 2015. The complaint was made by CR Dutta, a resident of Harshvardhan Nagar Bhopal. On the basis of the complaint received, preliminary enquiry was registered in Economic Offences Wing, Bhopal,” said the FIR.
On thorough investigation, it was found that BDA had allotted a plot to M/s High Speed Motors, whose partners were Yogesh Katare, Hemant Katare and others, in an illegal manner and the land use of the said plot was also changed in an illegal manner to make it commercial and even the price of the allotted plot was determined with the aim of providing undue benefit to M/s High Speed Motors without tender, said Upendra Jain, Director General, EOW.
The FIR has been registered under sections 120 B, 420, 468, 471 IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act13(2) against BDA then chief executive officer (CEO) KP Rahi, OSD Manoj Verma and partners of M/s High Speed Motors, Hemant Katare, his brother Yogesh Katare, their mother Meera Katare and sister Ruchi Katare.
Reacting to this, Hemant Katare said, “This is completely a fake case and nothing but a political vendetta to suppress the voice of opposition. The land was allotted 21 years ago when I was studying in college and away from politics. The PE registered in 2015 when my father Late Satyadev Katare, who was then leader of opposition, was fighting against Vyapam scam. Now, the FIR has been registered when I became deputy leader of Opposition.”
“We will move to the court and come clean, so I am not worried about this case, but people of MP are watching this behaviour of misuse of power,” he added.
