Khemka allegations: BJP demands fresh probe, Congress slams move

The BJP Saturday demanded a fresh probe into IAS officer Ashok Khemka's allegations of a land-licencing scam in Haryana and false documentation in land deals of Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra in Gurgaon, while the Congress termed it a move to "politicise the issue".

Bharatiya Janata Party vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that the allegations levelled by Khemka of a "sham sale" in land deal by Vadra in Shikohpur village of Gurgaon was a serious issue.

He said that Khemka's allegations of land-licencing scam was also a serious matter.

"It (Khemka's allegations) is a serious issue. It is necessary that the issue should be probed afresh," Naqvi said.

Though Naqvi spoke on the allegations levelled by Khemka, the BJP did not hold a formal press conference on the issue.

The party's Haryana unit meanwhile sought a high-level inquiry by a former Supreme Court judge into the allegations.

State BJP president Ram Bilas Sharma also alleged that the officials probing the matter were harassing Khemka at the behest of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Khemka, who hit the headlines last year after he questioned a land deal involving Vadra, has alleged a land-licencing scam in Haryana to the tune of a whopping Rs.3.5 lakh crore during Hooda's regime.

He has alleged that the scam of this magnitude has taken place in the past eight years - 2005 to 2012.

Khemka, who had cancelled the mutation of the Rs.58-crore land deal between Vadra's company, Sky Light Hospitality, with realty giant DLF October last year, and was allegedly punitively shifted out by the state government, has alleged that that the whole deal done by Vadra in the purchase, getting licence and sale of prime land, measuring 2.7 acres, in Shikohpur village was based on "false" documents, including a fictitious cheque, and was a "sham sale".

Khemka levelled the allegations in his reply to the Haryana government on the findings of a three-member committee of top Haryana bureaucrats set up by the Hooda government October last year on issues he had raised.

The high-level committee had recently rubbished the issues raised by Khemka. The 1991-batch IAS officer filed his reply May 21 this year and the Haryana government says that it is still "being examined".

Congress spokesperson Meem Afzal said "there could be BJP hand" behind allegations of Khemka.

He accused Khemka of trying to politicise the issue.

"He is giving interviews... it is politicisation," Afzal said.

The Congress leader said that BJP supports Khemka after he levels allegations.

Afzal said it should be found out how Khemka's reply to the three-member committee of top Haryana bureaucrats was "leaked".

Asked about specific allegations made against Vadra by Khemka in his reply, Afzal said that the probe committee has given its report.

"He (Khemka) has given his reply to the report. It is not a report," Afzal said.