CJM orders FIR against BJP MP, 5 others in land-grab case

GORAKHPUR : A local court on Wednesday ordered the Cantonment police to register an FIR against BJP MP Kamlesh Paswan, his businessman friend Sateesh Nanglia, and three others for using fake documents to register the land of a shopping complex, Baldev Plaza, in their names, in February 2015.

The court was hearing a plea filed by one Narendra Pratap, resident of city’s Pratap market, who claimed to be the original owner of around the two acres of land. He informed the court that despite repetitive complaints, no action was taken against the accused.

Chief judicial magistrate Yasmeen Akbar ordered the police to investigate the matter by registering an FIR against all five accused and submit a copy in the court at the earliest.

However, Paswan, 35, rejected the charges as bogus and politically motivated to tarnish his image.

“We will challenge the order in the high court, besides filing a defamation case against Nagendra Pratap, who is blowing the matter out of proportion,” the MP said.

Paswan had earlier been embroiled in controversy when suspended BRD pedeatrician Dr Kafeel Khan had accused him of carrying out a deadly attack on his younger brother, Kashif Jameel, on the night of June 10. He had accused the leader of eying his uncle’s land in the city’s Rustampur locality, but the charges were dismissed by the MP.

Besides, Paswan and his friend Nanglia, the other accused against whom the FIR has been ordered include Delhibased Sudha Prasad, wife of late Yogeshwar Prasad and her two sons, Kaustubh and Kandarp, who, according to petitioner, showed them as owners through fake documents and later transferred the ownership to Krishna Developers, a property firm owned by Paswan and his friend Sateesh Nanglia.

In February, the ownership of the complex was transferred to the firm, at an undisclosed cost but the cost of stamp paper used in the deal was around Rs 2.96 crore.

Earlier, in 1999, during a probe conducted under a court order the then SDM Mukesh Kumar found Fuddi Singh, father of the petitioner, as the owner of land and submitted the report in court but the petitioner urged further in the court that Sudha and her sons claimed themselves as owners and transferred the land to Paswan’s firm.

The multi-storey shopping complex in question is located in the heart of the city, Golghar, around three km from Gorakhnath temple, which is headed by CM Yogi Adityanath as chief priest.