Congress demands FIR against Brijmohan after court order over property row | India News
The Congress has trained its guns on BJP candidate from Raipur Lok sabha seat, Brijmohan Agrawal, seeking an FIR against him for fraud after an additional district court in Chhattisgarh’s Mahasamund district ruled against his wife Sarita Agrawal in a civil case in which she allegedly bought a land from a farmer which the latter had already sold to Chhattisgarh’s water resources department.
On Sunday, Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Deepak Baij held a press conference in Raipur where he demanded that an FIR be registered against Agrawal for “cheating the government”.
When contacted on Sunday, Agrawal, who became a state minister for a fifth term in 2023, refused to comment on the issue.
In 2017, The Indian Express had highlighted the property row in a series of news reports. In 2009, Agrawal’s wife bought the land near Sirpur in Mahasamund district which was donated by farmer Vishnu Sahu to the Water Resources department in 1994.
Records show that in March 1994, along with five other farmers of Jhalki village, Vishnu Ram Sahu gave 4.12 hectares to the Water Resources Department as part of “danpatra” (a system under which private individuals give their lands to the government for public good) for constructing a reservoir when the state was part of undivided Madhya Pradesh.
After acquiring the land, Agrawals started making a resort there. The land is near Sirpur, a site with several Buddhist excavations, and Agrawal’s Ministry has identified this region as a potential tourist destination. At the time, Agrawal was the tourism minister of the state.
The issue gained steam in 2017 when an inquiry by district collector revealed that land had been given to the Forest Department but since there was “laxity” in changing the name in the revenue records, it remained in the name of the original owner Vishnu Ram who sold it to Sarita Agrawal.
The water resources department took the matter to court and on April 23 last month, the additional district judge in Mahasamund, Sanghpushpa Bhatpahari, ruled in favour of the water resources department asking Agrawal to hand over the property to the government in two months.
Back in 2017, Agrawal had told The Indian Express, “Whatever we have done, we have followed all rules. The land that is being talked about acquired by my wife and my son was in the name of the farmer. I think there is no mistake from our end. It is the seller’s fault.”
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
First uploaded on: 06-05-2024 at 03:22 IST
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