Madhya Pradesh HC orders CBI to probe Digvijay Singh's role in Treasure Island scam

Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court asked Central Bureau of Investigation to probe the Treasure Island scam case, involving former Chief Minister Digvijay Singh, and report back within six months.

The order was passed by the division bench of Justices PK Jaisawal and Moolchand Garg, said advocate Dr Manohar Dalal, counsel for petitioner Mahesh Garg.

According to advocate Dalal, the HC asked the CBI to probe, among other things, the "roles of senior officials, the then Chief Minister, and Chief Secretary, and environment minister".

Social activist Garg had filed a complaint with the state Economic Offences Wing in 2009 in this regard. The EOW filed FIR against Entertainment World Developers Pvt Ltd, which constructed `Treasure Island' mall on the MG road here, in a joint venture with  Madhya Pradesh Housing Board in 2002.

The allegation was that the mall was illegally built on a residential plot of one lakh square feet, with undue concessions from the state government.

EOW conducted probe against twelve accused, including Digvijay Singh, former Chief Secretary A V Singh, former MP Housing Board Chairman Chandra Prabha Shekhar, former Principal Secretary U K Samant and developers Prem Kalani, Manish Kalani, and Padma Kalani.

It later filed closure report, giving clean chit to Digvijay Singh, while saying there was a case against six others including the developers.

When contacted, Superintendent of Police, EOW, Manoj Singh and Additional Advocate General Manoj Diwevedi said they had not received the judgement copy, and could not comment on it.