CBI submitted massive charge sheet against former Chief Minister in 1,500 rupees scam

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday submitted a charge sheet against former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and 33 others in connection with the alleged land acquisition scam in Manesar area of Gurgaon that caused a loss of around Rs 1,500 crore to farmers.

The charge sheet says builders bought land worth Rs 1,600 crore for just Rs 100 crore from gullible farmers on the pretext that it would be acquired by the state government for a nominal amount.

This is the first charge sheet against the former chief minister who is also facing two more CBI probes for alleged irregularities in allotting industrial plots in Panchkula. Sources said CBI may soon file one more charge sheet against Hooda and others in the Panchkula case.

Ahead of assembly elections in the state scheduled next year, the charge sheet could act as a political drag for Hooda, giving ammunition to not only the BJP but also his rivals in the Congress to target him.

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Besides Hooda, the charge sheet names three former Haryana bureaucrats who had worked in the CMO at the time, real estate companies and officials of Haryana’s department of town and country planning. The 80,000 paged document was brought to the court of the special CBI magistrate at Panchkula in a large almirah carried by four men.

Former bureaucrats who have been charge-sheeted along with Hooda are ML Tayal, Chattar Singh, and SS Dhillon, all of whom worked as principal secretary to Hooda when he was chief minister.

All the accused have been charged with criminal conspiracy, cheating, using as genuine a forged document, criminal conspiracy and various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

According to the charge sheet, the Hooda government had in 2004 issued a notification to acquire 912 acres of land to set up an Industrial Model Township (IMT) at Manesar, Naurangpur, and Lakhnoula in Gurgaon.

But before the acquisition could begin, around 400 acres were allegedly grabbed by builders who apparently threatened farmers that if they did not sell the land to them, it would be acquired by the government at meager rates.