CBI books Bhupinder Singh Hooda in Gurgaon land scam

New Delhi: In more trouble for senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the CBI booked the former Haryana chief minister on cheating and corruption charges in connection with land acquisition in Gurgaon that favoured private builders and also conducted searc-hes at 20 locations including his Rohtak residence.

The Congress as well as Mr Hooda, 71, hit out at the Centre over the CBI action, calling it “political vendetta”.

As part of its probe into irregular acquisition of 1,417 acres land in Gurgaon between 2009 and 2012, the CBI on Friday conducted searches in Delhi and Gurgaon, apart from the residence of Mr Hooda in Rohtak.

The CBI has also named Haryana’s additional chief secretary Trilok Chand Gupta, who was the then chief administrator of Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), along with 15 builders in the case, including DLF, Emaar MGF, Buzz Hotels, Ansals, among others. The builders’ official premises were also searched during the operation.

The central probe agency booked Mr Hooda, Mr Gupta and the builders for alleged criminal conspiracy and cheating under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act in connection with alleged irregularities in the acquisition of land.

The agency alleged that private builders entered into a criminal conspiracy with Mr Hooda and Mr Gupta with an intent to cheat land owners.

In pursuance of the conspiracy, notifications for acquisition of land were issued by the government triggering panic sale of land to private developers at a much cheaper rates than the prevalent market prices, they said.

Mr Hooda is already facing CBI probes in two cases that relate to Manesar land acquisition and allotment of an institutional plot to Associated Journals Ltd (AJL), the publisher of National Herald, in Panchkula. In both the cases, charge sheets have been filed.

The third case against Mr Hooda was registered following directives from the Supreme Court on November 1, 2017, to probe alleged irregularities in the acquisition process of 1,417 acres of land between 2009 and 2012 for sector 58-63 and 65-67 in Gurgaon.

The state government had issued the notification on June 2, 2009. Mr Hooda was the chief minister at that time., CBI spokesperson Nitin Wakankar said.

Another notification was issued for acquisition of 850.10 acres of land on May 31, 2010, officials said.

The CBI claimed that during the notification period approximately 616.40 acres of land was released in favour of developers.

It emerged during the preliminary enquiry that the objective of the HUDA for acquiring the land to ensure availability of developed land at affordable prices to the public at large and to the economically weaker sections of the society has not been achieved.