Land case: ED files complaint against AJL, Congress leaders

The case pertains to the restoration of an institutional plot at Panchkula that had been taken back by the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) to AJL at old rates in 2005, when Hooda headed a Congress government in the state.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a complaint against Associate Journals Limited (AJL), publisher of the National Herald newspaper, Congress veteran Motilal Vora and former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in the court of a special judge in Panchkula dealing with cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the agency said in a statement.

Investigation under the PMLA was based on the fact that the plot had been allotted to AJL in 1982, but was resumed by HUDA through an order dated October 30, 1992, the statement said. (HT image)

The case pertains to the restoration of an institutional plot at Panchkula that had been taken back by the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) to AJL at old rates in 2005, when Hooda headed a Congress government in the state.

AJL, Vora and Hooda were “directly involved in the process/activity connected with acquisition, possession or projection of “Proceeds of Crime” i.e. Plot No.C-17,Sector 6, Panchkula to the tune of ₹64.9 crores,” said the statement by ED, which investigates cases of money laundering and foreign exchange rule violations. ED has attached the plot, and the Adjudicating Authority, PMLA, has ordered confirmation of the provisional attachments order, it said.

Investigation under the PMLA was based on the fact that the plot had been allotted to AJL in 1982, but was resumed by HUDA through an order dated October 30, 1992, the statement said. AJL had not carried out any construction on the plot, as it was required to by the allotment letter.

The National Herald, a Congress party publication, was founded in 1938 by Jawaharlal Nehru.