Land scam: Haryana minister hails CBI's decision of booking Bhupinder Singh Hooda

Backing the Central Bureau of Investigation's CBI) decision of booking former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in connection with the alleged irregularities in the land allotted to the Associated Journals Limited (AJL), state Sports Minister Anil Vij on Thursday said it is an open case of corruption, adding that nobody would be able to save themselves from it.

Vij further said that the Congress leaders looted Haryana under his rule in order to appease party president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi.

"A piece of land was allotted to the AJL during Bhajanlal's regime. They never undertook any construction on this plot. The plot was re-acquired under the rule of Bansiraj. When the Hooda Government came to power in 2005, a Congress senior leader wrote them a letter stating that the plot be acquired again. So they started working on it," Vij told ANI.

The Haryana Sports Minister further said that the officials had tried stopping them from stating that the plot could not be given at the old amount but should be auctioned.

"Their own law department stopped them stating that the plot cannot be given at the old amount but can only be auctioned. So, they went ahead without getting it auctioned and sold it at the same price as Rs. 69 lakh as was decided in 1966. They have caused financial loss to the state. They did cheating and breach of trust. If the CBI has booked them, it is absolutely fair," he added.

The CBI earlier today registered a case against Hooda in connected with the alleged irregularities in the land allotted to the AJL in Panchkula in 2005.

The BJP Government in Haryana had handed over the enquiry into the alleged re-allotment of a plot to AJL in Panchkula in 2005 to the probe agency.