BJP MLA, 16 others charged for graft
The Special Police establishment of Lokayukta has registered an FIR against Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Ramesh Mendola and 16 others under the anti-corruption law in a case relating to a major land scandal in Indore.
Friday was the deadline fixed by the Indore Special Judge (anti-corruption) for the Lokayukta to present its report on the investigative findings in this case. According to reports received here the petitioner Suresh Seth, a former state minister and Congress leader, registered his strong objection when the Special Police of the Lokayukta placed before the court the copy of the FIR filed against Mr Mendola and others. He said that the Lokayukta should have submitted the final investigation report in court. He even questioned the credibility of Madhya Pradesh Lokayukta.
After hearing the objections, the court gave the state Lokayukta time till September 21 to complete investigations and give a report on the role of state industry minister Kailash Vijayvargiya in this case which is linked with his earlier tenure as Indore Mayor.
The complainant Suresh Seth had lodged a complaint with the State Economic Offences Wing in February 2009. When nothing came out of this, he filed a private complaint in court. The Special Judge (anti-corruption), in mid-April this year, ordered the Madhya Pradesh Lokayukta, the apex investigating agency in the state, to investigate the allegations within a fixed time-frame.
The main allegation in this case is that the Indore Municipal Corporation had given on lease three acres land to Dhanalaxmi Chemical Industries for 30 years in 1980. In gross violation of the lease agreement, this land was sold in 2004 to Nanda Nagar Sakh Sahkari Sanstha Maryadit, which is a credit cooperative society headed by Ramesh Mendola, a Vijayvargiya camp-follower and member of the mayor-in-council at that time and now a BJP MLA. The land was sold to the cooperative society for Rs 1.28 crore against the market price of Rs 70 crores. Mr Mendola followed this up by applying to the IMC for transferring the lease in his name and changing the land use from industrial to educational and residential.
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