CBI registers case in Digvijay's Indore Mall case

The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered a case to probe alleged irregularities in the construction of a high-end mall in Indore, including the role of then Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh.

CBI sources said the agency acted on the orders of the Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh high court, which had directed it to probe "roles of senior officials, the then chief minister, and chief secretary, and environment minister" among others.

The case relates to allegations that the mall was illegally built on a residential plot of one lakh square feet, with undue concessions from the then state government under chief minister Digvijaya Singh.

In its order on October 19, a division bench of Justices P K Jaisawal and Moolchand Garg had directed the CBI to probe the matter and report back in six months.

The bench gave the direction after a plea by social activist Mahesh Garg, who had filed a complaint with the state Economic Offences Wing in 2009, which had given a clean-chit to Singh.

Soon after the court order, Singh had welcomed the probe and posted on social networking website Twitter that "permission was given for it (mall) during my tenure as chief minister. The BJP government's Economic Offences Wing has already investigated the matter and found nothing against me."

The EOW had filed a FIR against Entertainment World Developers Pvt Ltd, which constructed the mall in a joint venture with the Madhya Pradesh Housing Board in 2002, and probed 12 other accused officials and ministers, including Digvijaya Singh.

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

After the closure report, Garg filed a PIL in the high court, which has now given the case to CBI.