CBI takes over case of cheating in Haryana land acquisition

CBI today took over probe into alleged cheating of farmers and other land owners in Haryana to the tune of Rs 1,500 crore by acquiring their land at throwaway prices through a nexus between government officials and private builders during the tenure of former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
CBI took over the investigation from Gurgaon Police in the case of alleged criminal conspiracy to cheat farmers with forged documents to acquire over 400 acres of land near Manesar, the probe agency said.
The 400 acre land, it is alleged, was purchased by builders at a cost of Rs 100 crore against the market price of Rs 1,600 crore. The CBI claims that in the alleged conspiracy, a loss of Rs 1,500 was caused to the land owners of village Manesar, Naurangpur and Lakhnoula.

The case has been registered against unknown public servants of the Haryana government and private persons under various sections of Indian penal Code dealing with cheating and forgery and Prevention of Corruption Act.
According to the allegations, private builders, in conspiracy with unknown public servants of Haryana government, had purchased around 400 acres of land from the farmers and land owners of village Manesar, Naurangpur amd Lakhnoula near Gurgaon in Haryana at throwaway prices.
It is alleged that the acquisition was ensured by allegedly threatening the farmers that the government was trying to acquire the land.

"In this process, initially, the Haryana government had issued notification 4, 6 and 9 of Land Acquisition Act for acquisition of land measuring about 912 acres for setting up an Industrial Model Township at Villages Manesar, Naurangpur and Lakhnoula in Gurgaon district," a CBI statement alleged.

However, the state government withdrew the notification on August 24, 2007 and by that time, private builders had allegedly grabbed the land from its owners at meagre rates.
The CBI alleged that the August 24, 2007 order was in violation of the government policy, in favour of the builders, their companies and agents, instead of the original land owners.
The CBI has re-registered the case filed by Gurgaon police who had mentioned no public servant or private builder in its FIR.