The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Monday said it had attached a plot of land in Panchkula allotted to the Associated Journals Limited (AJL) by the Haryana government in 2005. The attachment took place under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, an official said.
The agency, in a statement issued Monday, said the action was taken following a CBI chargesheet against former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and others on the charges of “fraudulent allotment”.
The ED alleged that the plot was first allotted to AJL in 1982 to start Nav Jivan newspaper. But it was cancelled in 1992 due to“violation of terms and references”. The plot was re-alloted when Hooda became Haryana CM in 2005. “Since, the value of plot fraudulently allotted AJL has represented proceeds of crime, ED has attached plot under PMLA Act by passing order under section 5 of PMLA Act on December 1, 2018. Further investigations under PMLA Act are in progress,” said the ED statement.