Saffron noose tightening around Kamal Nath, probe into land deals worth in crores

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath seems to be in for big trouble. After IT raids on his aides last month, the BJP in Uttar Pradesh is initiating a probe against renowned IMT Institute run by the Congress stalwarts family. Recently his nephew Ratul Puri, was also interrogated in the VVIP chopper scam by ED.

BJP has accused Kamal Nath's IMT college of fraudulently taking the possession of 15 acres of prime land in the heart of Ghaziabad city, a few miles away from the national capital.

The land, according to BJP leader Rajendra Tyagi, belongs to the state-run Chowdhary Charan Singh University (CCSU). On Tyagi's complaint, Uttar Pradesh Governer Ram Naik, who is also the Chancellor of the CCSU, has shot a letter to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to initiate a probe into the fraudulent allotment of land worth several hundred crores to IMT College.

The IMT website reveals that the prestigious institute was founded by Kamal Nath's father Mahendra Nath in the 1970s. Presently IMT College holds high rankings among the private B schools in the country.

Talking to IANS, Rajendra Tyagi, the complainant in the case, and senior corporator of Ghaziabad said that he was in possession of documentary evidence to prove that IMT grabbed the land of CCSU.

"Documents reveal that IMT was allotted a land by UPSIDC in 1973 near Rajnagar Extension. The Institute was supposed to be built on this land. However, at present IMT's distance learning centre is established on UPSIDC plot whereas the IMT main campus is built on a nearby land which is owned by CCSU's LR Degree College," explained Tyagi.

When contacted on phone by IANS, a lady officer of the Director's Secretariat, IMT, refused to comment on the issue.

Meanwhile a close aide of Kamal Nath told IANS, that charges levelled by the BJP leader is baseless and the subsequent probe being initiated by the Uttar Pradesh government in the IMT land deal case, is to harass Kamal Nath's family.

Earlier last month, Kamal Nath's associates, Praveen Kakkar and Rajendra Miglani, former personal assistant, were raided by IT sleuths in Bhopal, other major towns of Madhya Pradesh and a few premises owned by them in Delhi-NCR.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) later informed that unaccounted wealth worth over Rs 281 crore was unearthed by IT teams during these raids.

--IANS

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