Land allotted to AJL attached by ED under PMLA

The Enforcement Directorate has attached a plot of land in Panchkula allotted to the Associated Journals Limited (AJL) by the Haryana government in 2005, the agency said on Monday.

It has done saw under the anti-money laundering law, the agency said.

The AJL is reportedly controlled by senior Congress leaders, including members of the Gandhi family. The group runs the National Herald newspaper.

A provisional attachment order was issued on December 1, the day CBI filed a charge sheet against former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and others for allegedly using fraudulent means to allot land to AJL, the agency said in a statement.

"... Since, the value of plot fraudulently alloted to AJL has represented proceeds of crime, the ED has attached plot under PMLA act," the statement said.

The plot has been attached under Section 5 of PMLA (Attachment of property involved in money-laundering) and further investigation is in process, officials said.

The CBI charge sheet named Congress leader Motilal Vora besides Hooda in connection with the alleged irregularities in the re-allotment of an institutional plot in Panchkula, Haryana, to the AJL.