Karnataka forest minister in the line of fire over Megacity fraud

Forest minister CP Yogeshwar is in a soup as the alleged Megacity scam has returned to haunt him again with governor HR Bhardwaj on Saturday seeking a report from chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda.

Gowda, who rushed to Raj Bhavan on Saturday evening, apprised the governor of the controversy.

The governor's action comes in the wake of the Union ministry of company affairs submitting its report after a probe into the complaints of fraud and cheating against Yogeshwar, who was the managing director of Megacity Developers and Builders Limited which collected huge funds under a mega plan to allot sites in the proposed Vajragiri Township on the outskirts of Bangalore during 1995-2000.

Gowda and the governor had a closed-door conversation for over 30 minutes, and according to sources, the latter sought details on the charges that Yogeshwar faced.

State Criminal Investigation Department, that was asked to probe the scam when HD Kumaraswamy was the Karnataka chief minister, had submitted its report and governor HR Bhardwaj wanted to elicit the views of the state government on the report submitted by the Union ministry.

Union law minister Veerappa Moily demanded that the CM sack the tainted minister as the report had indicted him. But Yogeshwar termed it a conspiracy to tarnish his image at a time when he has just been inducted into the Cabinet.

Meanwhile, the Megacity Site Members’ Welfare Association said it submitted a petition to the governor demanding action against Yogeshwar. Its petition said he swindled investors of `37 crore promising sites in Vajragiri Township that failed to come up.

Association president Ravindra Beleyur said the CID had named Yogeshwar in the chargesheet for offences of cheating, fraud and misappropriation.

Speaking to DNA, Megacity victims M Kiran and DS Devaraj said: “We paid Rs1.20 lakh for a site in the project which was launched with much fanfare in the presence of Amitabh Bachchan. Hundreds of people paid huge amounts, but neither got sites nor the money back.”