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Gurugram land release case: CBI court asks for status of probe against Hooda
The court said a case was registered against Hooda and others on January 23, 2019, and a chargesheet was filed by the CBI against three public servants along with an accused company on January 4, 2021, in the Gurugram land release case
A special CBI court has sought a status report from the investigating agency on the probe pending against former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, former IAS officer TC Gupta and others in the Gurugram land release case. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is to submit the report by October 18.
The court of special CBI judge Sushil Kumar Garg has also communicated with the CBI director for expeditious completion of investigation in the case. The court said a case was registered against Hooda and others on January 23, 2019, and a chargesheet was filed by the CBI against three public servants along with an accused company on January 4, 2021.
The court said that perusal of case diary showed that the investigating officer had just recorded the statement of one Ramesh Sanka and not conducted any further probe in the case (M/s Commander Realtors Pvt. Ltd and others.
“Further investigation is pending against the accused BS Hooda, TC Gupta and others. He (the investigating officer) has also categorically admitted in his statement that due to paucity of time, he was unable to conduct further investigation as he was busy in investigation of some other cases,” the court said.
The court also made it clear that paucity of time due to other cases is not a ground for not conducting further probe in cases pertaining to former and sitting MPs and MLAs.
The case
The Congress government, in June 2009, had issued a notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act to acquire 1,407 acres for developing residential Sectors 58 to 63 and commercial Sectors 65 to 67 in Gurugram by HUDA. While issuing the declaration under Section 6 on June 2, 2010, the total area was reduced to about 800 acres. Finally, the award, dated May 29, 2012, was passed for 87 acres only. The SC had in 2017 ordered a CBI probe in the release of about 1,300 acres in the favour of private builders. The CBI, in its preliminary inquiry, had prima facie established irregularities in the release of land from acquisition process.
