Manesar land deal case: Real estate promoter gets another chance to appear in CBI court

: A special CBI court in Panchkula on Wednesday gave another chance to a real estate promoter, against whom a non-bailable warrant was earlier issued in the Manesar land deal case, to appear before it on the next date of hearing.

Defence counsel SPS Parmar said the court fixed February 20 as the next date of hearing in the case as one of the accused, Atul Bansal, did not appear before it. This is the second time Bansal did not appear in the court. During the previous hearing, the court of special CBI judge Jagdeep Singh had issued non-bailable warrant against him.

“The court has given him another chance to appear. It has asked to initiate proceedings of proclaimed offender against Bansal if he fails to appear again,” added Parmar.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had on February 2 last year filed a chargesheet, running into 80,000 pages, against 34 people, including former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, former Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) member Chhatar Singh, former principal secretaries Murari Lal Tayal and SS Dhillon and promoter of Gurugram-based real estate company ABW Builders, Atul Bansal.

Meanwhile, Hooda and other accused appeared in the court. The court has already granted them regular bail.

The CBI, in its chargesheet, claimed that the government had issued notifications under the Land Acquisition Act for acquiring 912 acres in Manesar, Naurangpur and Lakhnoula villages in Gurugram district for an industrial model township.

Threatening farmers with acquisition, private builders, in connivance with public servants, had reportedly purchased about 350 acres at throwaway rate between ₹20 lakh and ₹25 lakh per acre.

The entire land, valued at more than ₹1,600 crore, was allegedly purchased for ₹100 crore.

DURING THE PREVIOUS HEARING, THE COURT HAD ISSUED NON-BAILABLE WARRANT AGAINST HIM