Manesar land deal: ED registers money laundering case against Bhupinder Hooda

New Delhi [India], Sept. 9 (ANI): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday registered a case of money laundering against former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in connection with the Manesar land deal case. The Enforcement Directorate has filed a criminal complaint against Hooda based on a CBI FIR, under which the probe agency conducted searches in Haryana and the national capital last week. The case pertains to the alleged purchase of 400 acres of land from farmers in Gurgaon for Rs. 100 crores when the actual worth (according to market rate) was Rs. 1,600 crores. 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 investigating agency said that the Haryana government initially issued notifications under various sections of the Land Acquisition Act for acquisition of land, measuring about 912 acres, for setting up an Industrial Model Township, which covered Manesar, Lakhnoula and Naurangpur villages. As a result, a large number of land owners allegedly sold their land at throwaway prices. The CBI had last Saturday carried out raids at 24 premises linked to former Haryana Chief Minister, his close aides and former and current bureaucrats of the state government in connection with the case. This is the second case in which Hooda has been charged by the agency after he was accused of money laundering in the case of land transfer to Associate Journals Ltd, which owns the newspaper National Herald. (ANI)