Forest Minister C.P. Yogeshwar, who has been facing a criminal case of defrauding members of a real estate company of more than Rs. 30 crore filed by the Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs, has been slapped with another criminal case by a subsidiary company of Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise Limited (NICE) on the charge of cheating it of Rs. 2 crore and breach of trust.
According to a complaint lodged by A. Rudragoud of Nandi Engineering Limited engaged in the construction of Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Project (BMICP), the Minister approached company director Ashok Kheny assuring him of transferring his land for the project in 2005. The complaint said that the company issued two cheques for Rs. 1 crore each in January 2005.
Mr. Rudragoud said that even after two years, the Minister neither transferred the land nor returned the money he had taken. Despite several meetings and reminders, Mr. Yogeshwar had not kept the promise of returning the money till date and thereby cheated the company, he alleged. He urged the police to take action against the Minister on the charge of cheating and misappropriation of funds for personal gains, breach of trust causing financial loss to the company.
The Minister's bête noire and Congress MLA D.K. Shivakumar has raised the issue in the Legislative Assembly and demanded filing an FIR against Mr. Yogeshwar. He wondered why it had not been done by the Vidhana Soudha police yet. Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister S. Suresh Kumar assured him of immediate action.
However, Mr. Yogeshwar told presspersons that it was a politically motivated complaint aimed at tarnishing his image by his detractors.
