Gen Rawat's brother-in-law accuses Govt of bulldozing 'samadhi' on his ancestral land

By Praveen Dwivedi

Bhopal, Dec 14 (IANS) A week after India's first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat and 11 other armed forces personnel died in a chopper crash near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu on December 8, his brother-in-law (brother of Madhulika Rawat) Yash Vardhan Singh levelled some serious allegations against the Central government.
Singh, who is a native of Madhya Pradesh's Suhagpur town in Shahdol district, on Tuesday wrote in his Facebook account that a road was constructed on his land in his home town (Suhagpur) without consulting him. Singh alleged that for the road construction, the administration has bulldozed a 'Samadhi Sthal' of his ancestors and also cut down a number of trees.

"While the funeral process of my JijaJi (brother-in-law Gen. Rawat) and Didi (sister) was going on in Delhi, at the same time on the direction of the Centre, the construction of a national highway was carried out without consulting me. Besides this, an order has been issued to register a case against me if I object to this road construction," Singh's Facebook note read.

However, Singh did not specifically mention which department has ordered the registration of a case against him if he objected.

To ascertain the authenticity of the issue, IANS spoke to Shahdol district collector Vandana Vaidya. "Yes, Vardhan Singh had given a portion of his land for road (National Highway) construction in 2016. He has received a compensation of Rs 2,77,000 for his land. Further, during the widening of the road, another portion of land was required and a notification was issued to acquire 0.56 hectare land."

Vaidya continued, "This happened before my posting here in Shahdol. During the investigation, it has emerged that some trees were also supposed to be cut for the road construction. However, some other trees were also cut and this was the main issue. I have spoken to Yash Vardhan and have requested him to visit the office whenever he comes to Shahdol from New Delhi."

Replying on bulldozing a 'Samadhi Sthal', Vaidya said, "That portion was also part of the land given to the government for the road construction. But what went wrong was that the portion of 'Samadhi Sthal' was very shabby and therefore workers carrying out the digging did not notice it."

General Bipin Rawat's wife belonged to a royal family in Shahdol district of Madhya Pradesh. Her father (late) Mrighendra Singh was the Riyastdar of Shahdol district's Suhagpur town. Her father was also elected Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA- Congress) from the Suhagpur constituency in 1967 and again in 1972.