CBI grills ex-Haryana CM in land allotment scam

The CBI today questioned former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda for six hours in connection with the alleged irregularities in allotment of 14 industrial plots in Panchkula by the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA).
69-year-old Hooda, who as the CM also held the office of the chairman of HUDA, was quizzed by the agency for the first time since it registered the case against him, an IAS officer and two other HUDA officials last year.
Replying to queries, CBI Spokesperson R K Gaur said, "Yes, he was examined."
Hooda had arrived for questioning at the CBI headquarters here around 11 AM and left after 5 PM.

The agency had earlier examined UPSC member and former principal secretary to the chief minister Chattar Singh in connection with case.
According to the FIR, industrial plots were given to 14 people by allegedly manipulating provisions of allotment rules by allowing them to submit applications even after the last date of submission ended.

The 14 people who had been alloted lands had submitted their application on January 24, 2012 while the last date of submission was January 6, 2012, the FIR said.
The orders for the allotment were issued by the Chief Minister's Office, it said.
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had in December 2015 asked the State Vigilance Bureau to register an FIR in the case and the matter was then referred to the CBI.

Besides Hooda, others named in the FIR are retired IAS officer D P S Nagal, who was then the chief administrator of HUDA, S C Kansal, the then controller of finance, and B B Taneja, the then deputy superintendent of HUDA.
The FIR also states that "ineligible beneficiaries" were alloted plots at rates lesser than the market prices prevailing at that time, causing a loss of several crores of rupees to the state exchequer.
The 14 plots, ranging from 496 square metres to 1,280 square metres, were allegedly allotted at throwaway prices after changes were made midway in the eligibility criteria.

Those allotted the industrial plots included Renu Hooda, Manjot Kaur, Nandita Hooda, Mona Beri, Pardeep Kumar, KPS Sandhu, Dagar Katyal, Ganesh Dutt Ratan, Aman Gupta, Lt Col (retd) O P Dahiya, Sidharth Bhardwaj, Ashok Verma, Anupam Sood and Sachin Sood.
All of them were related to politicians, bureaucrats and other influential people which included the then chief minister, CBI sources said.
The case was registered under various sections of IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act.