Land scam: MP minister’s name missing in FIR

Madhya Pradesh’s industry minister Kailash Vijayvargiya has got a temporary relief in the Rs 100 crore Sugni Devi land scam case as his name does not figure in the FIR lodged by the Special Police Establishment of Lokayukta.

Madhya Pradesh’s industry minister Kailash Vijayvargiya has got a temporary relief in the Rs 100 crore Sugni Devi land scam case as his name does not figure in the FIR lodged by the Special Police Establishment of Lokayukta.

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Special Judge (anti-corruption) S.K. Raghuvanshi, however, said Vijayvargiya can be made an accused if evidence surfaces against him during the Lokayukta investigation which is still on.

The Lokayukta report submitted to the special court on Friday mentions Vijayvargiya’s close confidante and MLA Ramesh Mendola among 17 as guilty of criminal conspiracy to sell off three-acre municipal land worth Rs 100 crore the adjoining Sugni Devi Girls College at Pardeshipura Square.

Vijayvargiya was the mayor and Mendola a Mayor-in-Council member when the sale had taken place in 2004.

It was on Congress leader Suresh Seth’s complaint that the court had directed the Lokayukta to investigate the land grab. The land is situated in Mendola’s assembly constituency which Vijayvargiya represented earlier.

In 1980, Corporation leased out the land to Messers Dhanlaxmi Chemical Industries for a period of 30 years and there was no provision to sell the land. But the Indore Municipal Corporation granted no objection certificate to the industries to sell off the land to Nanda Nagar Sakh Sahkar Maryadit, a credit co-operative headed by Mendola for Rs 1.38 crore, according to the FIR.