MP: Land forgery case against Jyotiraditya Scindia, his family, reopened a day after he joins BJP

A land forgery case filed against Jyotiraditya Scindia, whose exit from the Congress triggered a political crisis in Madhya Pradesh, was on Thursday reopened by the Economic Offences Wing, reported PTI. The case, in which the former Union minister and his family are accused of falsifying a property document while selling land, was closed in 2018.

Scindia quit the Congress party on Tuesday after which at least 22 MLAs, including six state ministers, resigned from the Madhya Pradesh Assembly. He had ended his 18-year-old association with the Congress after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. A day later, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party and lauded the leadership of the prime minister.

“Yes, an order has been given for re-verification of facts in the complaint filed by Surendra Shrivastava,” an unidentified official told PTI.

A press release said Shrivastava filed a fresh complaint against Scindia and his family, alleging that they sold him a piece of land at Mahalgaon after falsifying a registry document. He added that the land was smaller by 6,000 sq feet than the original agreement in 2009.

An official said the complaint in the case was filed first on March 26, 2014 and closed in 2018 after investigation. “As he again petitioned us today, we will re-verify the facts,” the officer added.

Meanwhile, Scindia’s close aide Pankaj Chaturvedi alleged that it was political vendetta. “The case had been closed for want of evidence,” he said. “Now for vengeance, it is being reopened. We have full faith in the Constitution and law. We will get justice and Kamal Nath government a befitting reply.”

Before the resignations, the Congress government had a wafer-thin majority – the party had 114 MLAs of its own in the 230-seat state Assembly, while two Bahujan Samaj Party MLAs, one of the Samajwadi Party, and four independents supported it. Two seats are vacant. If the 22 resignations are accepted, the Congress will be reduced to 92 MLAs and the government would collapse.