Plot allotment case against Haryana ex-CM: CBI raids 20 locations

New Delhi: The CBI on Saturday conducted raids at 20 locations in Delhi and Haryana in connection with its probe in the multi-crore industrial plot allotment scam in which former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is named, an official said.

The official said that separate Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) teams searched the homes and offices of Hooda and some bureaucrats residing in Delhi and Haryana's Gurgaon, Rohtak, Chandigarh and Panchkula areas.

The CBI on May 21 had filed a case against Hooda and others relating to the allotment of 14 industrial plots during the previous Congress rule in the state.

Others named in the First Information Report (FIR) include D.P.S. Nagal (retired IAS), the then Haryana Development Authority (HUDA) chief administrator; S.C. Kansal, chief financial controller and B.B. Taneja, deputy superintendent.

The beneficiaries booked in the case are Renu Hooda, widow of the chief minister's nephew; Pardeep Kumar, Mona Beri, Nandita Hooda, Manjot Kaur, Ganesh Dutt Ratan, Aman Gupta, Lt. Col. O.P. Dahiya (retd), Dagar Katyal, Siddharth Bharadwaj, Kanwar Preet Singh Sandhu, Raman Kansal and Ashok Verma.

The CBI, which took over the case in January, a month after a recommendation by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar to the Centre, said that 14 industrial plots in Panchkula were illegally allotted to private persons, mostly relatives of Hooda and HUDA officials, thereby causing a loss to the exchequer.

The agency has taken into custody the record of an inquiry earlier conducted by the Haryana State Vigilance Bureau.

The allotments were made by HUDA in July 2013 and approved by Hooda as its chairman on the recommendation of a standing committee.

The prices of plots given to Hooda's kin were alleged to be much lower than the market rate and HUDA didn't constitute the mandatory committee to decide the beneficiaries.

"The plots are located in Industrial Area, Phase-1, of Panchkula and are in two sizes: 1,000 sq.mts costing Rs 64 lakh and 496 sq.mts at Rs 31.74 lakh. The market price of a 1,000 sq.mt plot in the area is around Rs 6 crore," said an official.