Haryana ex-CM Hooda booked in land allotment case

The CBI has registered a case against former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda for alleged re-allotment of a plot to Associated Journals Limited in Panchkula in 2005, an official said on Thursday.

The agency took over the case from Haryana Vigilance Department and filed an FIR on Wednesday against the senior Congress leader under charges of criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, cheating and misuse of official position by public servants, violating provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The FIR stated that the agency registered the case following December 22, 2016, request by the Haryana government and the notification issued by the central government on January 27, 2017.

A Central Bureau of Investigation official said: "We filed the case against the then chief administrator HUDA (Haryana Urban Development Authority) Bhupinder Singh Hooda, three other officials of the department, Associated Journals Limited (AJL) and others."

The FIR has been registered on the basis of a request made by Haryana's Deputy Secretary Madan Lal Khurana (Vigilance), the official said.

"The AJL, publisher of now defunct daily The National Herald, was allotted the plot on August 24, 1982, with two years' limitation to complete the construction. The plot was resumed on October 30, 1992, for no construction."

"The company preferred revision which was dismissed on 1996. But, in contravention of all the policies and also against the advice rendered by the HUDA officials, the resumed plot was re-allotted to the company by the then chairman HUDA B.S. Hooda on August 28, 2005, when his party came in power," the FIR said.

The Haryana state vigilance bureau had registered a case of cheating and corruption against Hooda and four officials on May 5, 2016.

The vigilance bureau found in its investigation that the institutional plot No. C-17 in Sector-6 of Panchkula was re-allotted by Hooda in an arbitrary manner and in complete violation and disregard to the rules by causing loss to the state.

--IANS

rak/pgh/vt