CBI searches residence of Hooda, senior bureaucrats

CBI today carried out searches at 20 locations including the residences of former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in a case of alleged irregularities in acquisition of land in Gurgaon in which farmers were cheated to the tune of Rs 1,500 crore.
The search operation also covered the residential premises of UPSC member Chattar Singh who was then Additional Private Secretary to Hooda, CBI sources said.
Besides Hooda's residence in Rohtak and Chandigarh, the premises of IAS officers--Additional Transport Secretary Haryana, S S Dhillon (then Director Town and country Planning), the then Principal Secretary of Hooda, M L Tayal (now retired)--were also searched in the operation spread across multiple cities, they said.

During the searches at Hooda's residence, CBI has found "fund transaction details worth crores of rupees" which are being scrutinised by the agency.
The sources said the agency team also searched premises of ABW Infrastructure Limited, its founder Director Atul Bansal in Rajokri and his brother Amit Bansal in Gurgaon was also covered in the operation resulting in the recovery of 22 items of forensic importance.
The role of firms associated with the builder like Innovative Infra Developers, Flair Private Limited among others is also under the scanner of the agency.

"In an ongoing investigation, CBI carried out searches at 20 locations in Rohtak, Gurgaon, Panchkula and Delhi in connection with allegedirregularitiesin the purchase of land from farmers in Gurgaon," CBI Spokesperson R K Gaur said.

The agency had registered the case last year in Septemberon allegations that private builders in conspiracy with unknown public servants of the Haryana government had purchased around 400 acres of land from farmers and land owners of village Manesar, Naurangpur and Lakhnoula, district Gurgaon at throw away prices, showing the threat of acquisition by the government, during the period of August 27, 2004 to August 24, 2007.
The premises of then Chief Town and Country Planner Dhare
Singh, in Rohtak and Delhi, M S Chopra, the then Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Hooda, Randhir Singh (also the then OSD), the office of Town and Country Planning, Haryana government, Jaswant Singh, then District Town Planner, and the then Deputy Superintendent Town Planning Department were also searched, the sources said.

The raids were spread in Rohtak, Chandigarh, Gurgaon, New Delhi and Panchkula, they said.
It is alleged that initially the Haryana government had issued a notification under the Land Acquisition Act for acquiring land measuring about 912 acres for setting up an Industrial Model Township at villages Manesar, Naurangpur and Lakhnoula in Gurgaon.
After that, all the land had allegedly been grabbed from the land owners by private builders atmeagerrates showing the threat of Government acquisition, CBI had said after registering the case.
It is also alleged that an order was then passed by the thecompetent authority i.E. The Director of Industries on August 24, 2007 releasing this land from the acquisition process in violation of the government policy, in favour of the builders, their companies and agents, instead of the original land owners.

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The sources claimed during the searches photocopies of crucial documents related to the land acquisition process and maps of the land were recovered from the residence of Dhare Singh.
They said the agency also recovered documents of four properties of S S Dhillon besides records of 15 acres of agriculture land in Punjab.
Documents related to four flats allegedly belonging to M L Tayal and his family members were also recovered by the sleuths from his residence, they said.
The agency has also taken into possession two computers from Hooda's residence.
From Atul Bansal's premises, the investigating team seized laptops, hard drives and other electronic material in addition to various other documents, the sources added.