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Treasure Island Mall: Special court pulls up CBI for ‘sloppy’ probe
A special court on Thursday reprimanded the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for its ‘sloppy’ investigation in Indore’s Treasure Island Mall scam.
A special court on Thursday reprimanded the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for its ‘sloppy’ investigation in Indore’s Treasure Island Mall scam.
Judge BK Paloda directed the CBI to submit the copies of its investigation, case dairy and other important documents in the court by July 18.
The state’s first mall-cum-multiplex has been at the centre of controversy ever since it was inaugurated in 2005.
The CBI took over the case in 2012 following an order of the Madhya Pradesh high court, which directed it to probe the alleged involvement of former chief minister Digvijaya Singh and other high-profile accused. In March 2014, the CBI gave the senior Congress leader a clean chit.
“Since the day the CBI took over the case, it did not produce any investigation detail in this matter. We don’t know what investigation the CBI is doing, what evidences it collected, how many people and whom did they probe so far,” the judge said.
Special persecutor, EOW, Ashlesh Sharma said Economic Offences Wing had filed a charge sheet in 2011 against TI Mall’s former owner Manish Kalani, Madhya Pradesh Housing Board’s ex-chairman Chandra Prabhash Shekhar and the then principal secretaries of environment and housing departments UK Samal and DP Tiwari.
In 2009, social activist Mahesh Garg filed a complaint with the EOW alleging the mall was illegally constructed on one lakh square feet plot meant for residential purpose.
The same year the EOW had conducted probe against 12 accused, including former chief minister Digvijaya Singh and former environment and housing minister Choudhary Rakesh Singh. But in April 2012, the EOW filed a closure report giving clean chit to Singh and four others.
Dissatisfied with the EOW report, Garg moved a PIL before the high court demanding a CBI inquiry into the alleged irregularities.
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