Herald case: Ex-Haryana CM charge-sheeted
PANCHKULA : The CBI on Saturday filed a charge sheet against former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, senior Congress leader Moti Lal Vora and Associated Journals Limited, publisher of the National Herald, a newspaper founded by Jawaharlal Nehru. The FIR was filed in a case relating to the restoration of an institutional plot in Panchkula to AJL at old prices. The charge sheet was filed under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of the IPC and sections 13(I) (d), read with 13 (2), of the Preventions of Corruption Act.
PANCHKULA: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday filed a charge sheet against former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, senior Congress leader Moti Lal Vora and Associated Journals Limited (AJL), publisher of the National Herald, a newspaper founded by Jawaharlal Nehru. The First Information Report (FIR) was filed in a case relating to the restoration of an institutional plot in Panchkula to AJL at old prices.
The charge sheet was filed in the court of special CBI judge Jagdeep Singh in Panchkula under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 13(I) (d), read with 13 (2), of the Preventions of Corruption Act. On November 15, Haryana governor Satyadev Narayan Arya sanctioned the prosecution of Hooda in the case.
In October, the CBI sought the state government’s approval to prosecute Hooda.
Under the amended Prevention of Corruption Act, the CBI now has to take the state government’s prior sanction to prosecute a former public servant. The sanction to prosecute was only sought for Hooda. Hooda was the CM and chairman of Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) when the plot was restored to AJL at old rates in 2005.
Hooda on Saturday said the case was an example of political vendetta. “My decision to restore the institutional plot to AJL at old rates was within my powers as the chairman of the HUDA. The AJL had paid up the entire amount for allotment of the plot but could not do construction on it. This led to its resumption,’’ Hooda said. He said the plot was restored to AJL after charging
the company interest amounting to over ₹ 55 lakh on the allotment price of ₹2 lakhs.
Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi told TV channels the fact that the charge sheet had been filed ahead of elections indicated political vendetta. Vora did not respond to calls and text messages sent to him.
The CBI found that civil servants had no role in the allotment of the plot to AJL, which according to the agency had resulted in a wrongful gain of about ₹67.65 lakh to AJL and a corresponding loss to the state exchequer. The CBI noted that they had opposed the move in writing on the file related to the case.
HT had in 2016 reported that the BJP government had wrongly named other officials in a FIR registered by the Vigilance Bureau. The three officials named in the FIR had written on the file that while land could be allotted to the publisher at the current rates. The officials were overruled by Hooda, who passed a so-called speaking order to restore it.
The Vigilance Bureau had in 2016 booked Hooda and three officials for allegedly restoring the resumed plot. The case was in 2017 referred to the CBI by the state government for probe.