Court closes case against Vijayvargiya as MP government remains undecided on sanction for prosecution

By PTI

INDORE: A special court here has closed a case against BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya in an alleged ‘pension scam’ at the Indore Municipal Corporation as the Madhya Pradesh government did not give sanction to prosecute him and others for 17 years.

Complainant K K Mishra — chairman of the MP Congress’s media department — has now moved the High Court against the delay in the grant of sanction.

Judge Mukesh Nath for a special court for cases against MPs and MLAs ordered closure of the proceedings against Vijayvargiya and others on Monday citing the lack of sanction for prosecution.

But the complainant can move the court afresh if the government granted sanction, the judge added.

The complaint before the court alleged that when Vijayvargiya was Indore Mayor from 2000 to 2005, the IMC paid pension to the destitute, widows and disabled persons through co-operative institutes instead of national banks and post offices as required by rules.

Persons who were ineligible or deceased or even non-existing persons got a pension, causing a loss of Rs 33 crore to the government, it alleged.

“By not sanctioning prosecution for 17 years, the state government has shown that it wants to save corrupt people,” Mishra told PTI on Friday.

His lawyer Vibhor Khandelwal said they have filed a petition before the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s Indore bench against the non-grant of sanction.

INDORE: A special court here has closed a case against BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya in an alleged ‘pension scam’ at the Indore Municipal Corporation as the Madhya Pradesh government did not give sanction to prosecute him and others for 17 years.

Complainant K K Mishra — chairman of the MP Congress’s media department — has now moved the High Court against the delay in the grant of sanction.

Judge Mukesh Nath for a special court for cases against MPs and MLAs ordered closure of the proceedings against Vijayvargiya and others on Monday citing the lack of sanction for prosecution.

But the complainant can move the court afresh if the government granted sanction, the judge added.

The complaint before the court alleged that when Vijayvargiya was Indore Mayor from 2000 to 2005, the IMC paid pension to the destitute, widows and disabled persons through co-operative institutes instead of national banks and post offices as required by rules.

Persons who were ineligible or deceased or even non-existing persons got a pension, causing a loss of Rs 33 crore to the government, it alleged.

“By not sanctioning prosecution for 17 years, the state government has shown that it wants to save corrupt people,” Mishra told PTI on Friday.

His lawyer Vibhor Khandelwal said they have filed a petition before the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s Indore bench against the non-grant of sanction.