ED raids ex-Haryana CM Hooda's aides in Manesar land deal case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday raided around ten places of former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda's aides in connection with a 400-acre land deal in Gurugram's Manesar.

"The agency is carrying out raids at eight-nine places in Haryana and Delhi in connection with the Manesar land deal," an ED official told IANS.

The action comes in the wake of a money laundering case registered on September 9 last year against Hooda and others on the basis of the CBI case for alleged financial irregularities in the acquisition of land in Manesar.

The land was allegedly purchased showing the threat of acquisition by the state government during August 27, 2004, to August 24, 2007.

The Haryana government had initially issued a notification under the Land Acquisition Act for acquisition of land measuring about 912 acres for setting up an industrial model township in Manesar, Naurangpur and Lakhnoula villages.

All the land was later grabbed from the land owners by private builders at meagre rates, the CBI had said after registration of the case.

Earlier this month, Hooda was questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for over nine hours in connection with the case.