CBI case on Bhupinder Singh Hooda for illegal plots

The CBI on Saturday registered a case against former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda for alleged irregularities in the allocation of 14 industrial plots in Panchkula when he was CM and chairman of the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA). Mr Hooda is the third senior state Congress leader now being investigated by India’s premier investigative agency. The CBI had recently refused to withdraw its probe of a video sting against Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat that purportedly shows him trying to bribe rebel Congress MLAs to support him in a floor test, and is already investigating corruption cases against Himachal Pradesh’s Congress CM Virbhadra Singh, accused of amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

The case against Mr Hooda was handed over to the CBI by the Haryana Vigilance Bureau. The agency has named the former HUDA chairman, three ex-bureaucrats, 13 beneficiaries and unknown officials of HUDA and the state government.

The CBI on Saturday also searched the premises of former bureaucrats and beneficiaries at 16 locations, including Chandigarh, Panchkula, Faridabad, Delhi, Gurgaon, Karnal, Kurukshetra and Rohtak. These ex-bureaucrats and beneficiaries are alleged to have used their links to get industrial plots in Panchkula allocated in an irregular manner. However, the Congress claimed it was a political vendetta.

Talking to this newspaper on Saturday, AICC chief spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala said, “BJP leaders are indulging in politics of vendetta against their political rivals. Congress leaders across the country are being targeted.” He accused both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar of indulging in the “sinister politics of vendetta” against political rivals.

Mr Hooda claimed the CBI’s move was a “personal vendetta” and that these cases were only “diversionary tactics” being adopted by Haryana’s BJP-led government. “They have not been able to fulfil any of the promises made so far so they are diverting people’s attention through such cases, which is purely witch-hunting. The state government could have waited for the order of the Punjab and Haryana high court where the matter is pending,” he said.

According to the FIR, industrial plots were given to 14 people by allegedly manipulating certain allotment provisions, including allowing them to submit their applications even after the last date for submission. The 14 people allotted land had submitted their applications on January 24, 2012, well after the submission deadline of January 6, 2012, the FIR alleged. Besides the then HUDA chairman, the others named in the FIR are retired IAS officers D.P.S. Nagal, the then HUDA chief administrator; S.C Kansal, the former controller of finance; and B.B. Taneja, the then deputy superintendent of HUDA. Those allotted the industrial plots included Renu Hooda, Manjot Kaur, Nandita Hooda, Mona Beri, Pardeep Kumar, K.P.S. Sandhu, Dagar Katyal, Ganesh Dutt Ratan, Aman Gupta, Lt. Col. O.P. Dahiya (Retd), Sidharth Bhardwaj, Ashok Verma, Anupam Sood and Sachin Sood. It is alleged that all of them were related to politicians, bureaucrats and other influential people, including the then CM, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda. The case has been registered under various sections of the IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act. The FIR also alleged that ineligible beneficiaries were allotted plots at rates lesser than the prevailing market rates, causing the state exchequer financial losses of several crore rupees.