Indore:
The Madhya Pradesh High Court has ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe against Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh in connection with allegations that he bent rules to allow a mall to come up illegally in a residential area in Indore when he was the chief minister.
Mr Singh says he is ready for any sort of a probe.
In 2008, the petitioner, Mahesh Garg, had approached the state's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) objecting to rules being bent to allow construction of Treasure Island mall in a residential area of the city. He alleged that then Chief Minister, Digvijaya Singh, ordered housing board to bend rules to allow the mall to come up.
The petitioner also said that the land on which the mall was constructed, out of every 1 lakh square feet, only 25,000 square feet was allowed for commercial use. With the chief minister's interference, the entire 2.5 lakh square feet was converted for commercial use.
The EOW after conducting a preliminary investigation registered Mr Garg's complaint in 2009. Two years later, Mr Garg, unhappy with the progress of the probe by the EOW in the case, approached the High Court.
In April 2011, the EOW filed its closure report in the case, giving a clean chit to four of the 12 accused including Mr Singh.
The High Court has now ordered a CBI probe and has asked the investigating agency to submit its report in six months.