CBI court dismisses anticipatory bail plea of high court judge’s son

MANESAR LAND DEAL CBI opposes accused Gaurav Chaudhry’s plea, saying he can influence the witnesses

PANCHKULA: The special CBI court here on Friday dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of a sitting Punjab and Haryana high court judge’s son, who has been charged as co-accused along with former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and 32 others in the alleged Rs 1500-crore Manesar land scam.

The dismissal of accused Gaurav Chaudhry’s plea came ahead of commencement of hearing on framing of charges on April 19, for which all accused have been summoned.

While a detailed order is awaited, the CBI counsel strongly opposed his bail claiming that he was in capacity to influence the witnesses on quid pro quo when the CBI investigation was in progress.

So far only Hooda’s former principal secretary ML Tayal, who is also among accused, moved the pre-arrest bail but fearing dismissal he withdrew it later. The other main accused in this case are former Union Public Service Commission member Chhatar Singh, former bureaucrat SS Dhillon, besides several realtors, including promoter of Gurugram-based real estate company ABW Builders Atul Bansal.

The scam pertains to misuse of the Land Acquisition Act.

A large number of farmers in Manesar near Gurgaon sold nearly 450 acres of land to builders in haste at throwaway prices due to its acquisition by the state government for industrial township project.

The Hooda government scrapped the acquisition process in 2007, only to later grant licences for housing and commercial development to the builders in violation of rules.

In Gaurav’s case, the chargesheet, filed by the CBI on February 2, claimed that Chaudhry, as director of the two companies —Flair Realtors Pvt Ltd and Metropolis Realtors Pvt Ltd — got CLU licence for five acres in Manesar to set up a school but he purchased the land after section 4 of Land Acquisition Act and then applied for CLU after issuance of Section 6 of the Act that deals with the declaration that the land to be acquired is for a public purpose.

The companies linked to Chaudhry purchased about 52 acres land in Manesar.

As reported by HT last month, the chargesheet also revealed that the fee of CLU obtained by Chaudhry’s firms was paid to the Haryana town and country planning department by Millenia Infrastructure Pvt Ltd in which Sukhinder Hooda (Monu), a nephew of the then CM Hooda, was a director. Another director of Millenia, Arvind Walia, is a maternal uncle of Gaurav Choudhry.

CHAUDHRY HAS BEEN CHARGED AS COACCUSED ALONG WITH FORMER HARYANA CM HOODA, 32 OTHERS