HC apprised of criminal cases pending against Capt, Hooda

CHANDIGARH: Various agencies on Tuesday apprised the Punjab and Haryana high court of criminal cases pending against Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Punjab Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira, among others.

Additional solicitor general Satya Pal Jain told a HC special bench that an income tax case is pending against Amarinder in the chief judicial magistrate court, Ludhiana, and is at presummoning of evidence stage. Information in this regard was shared before the bench of justice Rajan Gupta and justice Karamjit Singh, which is monitoring trial against MPs and MLAs as directed by the Supreme Court.

At least 163 cases are pending against sitting or former MPs and MLAs in Punjab and 21 cases, including eight against ex-MLAs, in Haryana. Jain also apprised the court that the ED case against Khaira, who has approached high court against the proceedings, is held up due to court orders.

Three cases were listed against Hooda, in which trials are pending. One case was of ED probe registered in 2019 in a plot allotment case to Associated Journals Limited (AJL) in Panchkula, against which Hooda’s plea is pending in the HC, the court was told.

The CBI listed two cases against Hooda, one related to AJL plot allotment case, in which trial has been stayed by the high court and another of alleged illegal industrial plot allotment case registered in 2016. Proceedings in these cases are underway at Panchkula district courts.

Punjab told court that the IGP, crime-III, Bureau of Investigation, has been nominated as a nodal officer to review the cases and ensure that trial does not get delayed. Haryana too stated that the probe in different cases is being reviewed by nodal officer IGP, law and order (administration), Sanjay Kumar. The matter will now be taken up on August 19.