Sugni land scam: Plea to extend date to file challan accepted

The next hearing in the case would be held on September 10, petitioner Suresh Seth's counsel Sohanlal Nagar said.

The Lokayukta police pleaded that delay in filing the challan is due to the delay by the state government in granting permission to prosecute officials involved in the case.

Special prosecutor Saket Vyas said Lokayukta police have already completed the investigation and sought the state government's permission to prosecute public servants involved in this case.

"We have got the permission from the state government to file challan against three persons involved in the scam, but are still waiting for administration's nod to file challan against remaining persons involved in the scam. Once we get the permission from the concerned authority, we will file challan all together," Vyas said.

The state government has already given its approval for the prosecution of the then Indore Municipal Corporation officials Jagdish Dagaonkar, Rakesh Sharma and Suresh in the land scam.

On February 21, 2012 the special police establishment (Lokayukta) submitted an application before the court and asked for time to submit a challan against MLA Ramesh Mendola and others in the multi-crore Sugni Devi land scam.

During Kailash Vijayvargiya's tenure as the city mayor, the lease of a plot of land adjoining to Sugni Devi College was transferred to Nanda Nagar Cooperative Society.

This had kicked off a row in Indore, as the land, worth crores of rupees, was transferred at a throw-away price without any approval from the government. A special court had then instructed the Lokayukta police to probe the case.

Following the investigations, the Lokayukta police registered cases of corruption against 17 persons including the erstwhile Mayor-in-Council member and legislator, Ramesh Mendola, Dhanlakshmi Chemicals partners Nageen Kothari, Vijay Kothari and Manish Sanghvi and others.