Manesar land scam: Court asks CBI to submit complete set of documents

Tribune News Service
Panchkula, November 16

A local court told the Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday to hand over to the defence copies of all documents it listed in its chargesheet for a land scam in which former chief minister Bhupinder Hooda is a suspect.

The agency has until December 4—the case’s next hearing—to hand over the documents. The defence had previously asked the remaining documents.

All 35 suspects in the case—including the former chief minister—appeared in person for Friday’s hearing.

The case pertains to allegations of an estimated Rs 1,500 crore scam in land acquisition.

Hooda’s predecessor Om Prakash Chautala’s government announced it was going to acquire 912 acres of land for residential and recreational utilities in the Industrial Model Township (IMT),Manesar, in August 2004.

Fearing inadequate compensation, farmers sold 350 acres at throwaway prices of Rs 20-25 lakh per acre despite the state government’s notification fixing compensation as Rs 1.5 crore per acre. Meanwhile, land sharks bought another 50 acres of land, again at low prices.

Hooda’s government scrapped the acquisition process in 2007, only to grant housing and commercial development licenses to builders for over 260 acres of the same land.

The Bharatiya Janata Party government under Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation to inquire into the allegations of a possible scam in 2015.

In its voluminous challan on February 2, the CBI accused Hooda, his aides and some reality firms of criminal conspiracy and fraud.

Video credit: Ravi Kumar