Land scam: CBI chargesheet against ex-Haryana CM

New Delhi [India], Feb 2 (ANI): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday filed a chargesheet against former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and 33 others in Panchkula court in connection with an alleged land acquisition scam.

The case pertains to the alleged purchase of 400 acres of land from farmers in Gurugram for Rs 100 crore when the actual worth (according to market rate) was Rs 1,500 crore.

The purchase, according to the CBI, was made during August 2004-August 2007, under the "threat and false apprehension of acquisition of the land by the state government".

The CBI had conducted searches around 24 places, including Rohtak, Gurgaon, Delhi, Chandigarh and Panchkula, at the residential and office premises of various persons in the ongoing investigation.

The CBI had also registered a case on September 15, 2015, against unknown public servants of the Haryana Government and unknown private persons.

A case was registered at Police Station Manesar, District Gurgaon under section 420, 465, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, on the request of the Haryana Government and further directions of the Government of India.

In this process, initially, the Government of Haryana had issued notifications under various sections of Land Acquisition Act for the acquisition of land measuring about 912 acres for setting up an Industrial Model Township.

As a result of this, a large number of landowners, in haste, had allegedly sold their land at throwaway prices. It was further alleged that the land, about 400 acres, had been grabbed from the landowners by the private builders under the threat of acquisition at meagre rates.

An order was also allegedly passed by the Competent Authority in Government on August 24, 2007, releasing this land from the acquisition process in violation of the government policy and the licenses/CLU were issued to the private builders. An alleged loss of Rs.1500 crores (approx) was caused to the landowners of Village Manesar, Naurangpur and Lakhnoula of District Gurgaon. (ANI)