Cong leader caught in land scam

Gwalior, Mar 29 (UNI) A special court has granted bail to District Congress President Prakash Khandelwal in connection with the alleged bounce of refund cheques, for several lakh rupees, which were issued in the wake of failure to allot plots at a posh colony here.

Mr Prakash Khandelwal was granted bail on a personal bond of Rs 20,000. In 1995, he took Rs 25,000 each from the Sindhi community and a few others -- under the Nirman Evam Vikas Sansthan -- for allotting plots at the proposed Gaurishankar Nagar between Basant Vihar and Chetakpuri. He even withdrew the amount from a State Bank of India branch here.

Installments continued to be deposited by the buyers and in 2004 they were asked to pay up the remaining amount so that registration could be completed. When the plots were not registered for a long time, the buyers demanded refunds. Mr Khandelwal paid a cash component and also issued postdated cheques in the names of relatives and himself.

The cheques bounced as the account was closed. Some of the affected people moved court, which recently ruled that sufficient basis existed for registering a case under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act.

Besides, prima facie, sufficient basis also existed for taking cognizance in the matter under Section 190 of the IPC.

Following the court's direction, a case was registered with the Central Registrar Office.

The next hearing in the case will take place on May 8 during which both the sides would present facts.

Meanwhile, Mr Khandelwal had denied that he took money from anyone in the name of providing land. He alleged that he was being targeted as a part of a politically motivated conspiracy.

On the other hand, Congress General Secretary Narayan Sami said he had received complaint about Mr Khandelwal. He said the party had nothing to do with it as it was a personal matter.

However, he admitted that the actions of a responsible party office-bearer do affect the party's image. He would discuss the matter personally and try to work out a solution as early as possible.

Considering the seriousness of the matter, Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scinda had constituted a committee comprising three former MLAs -- Mr Ramesh Agrawal, Mr Lakhan Singh Yadav and Mr Ramvaran Singh -- to look into the matter.

Party sources said prima facie, the committee had found irregularities in the dealings.

UNI