Sonepat-Kharkhoda Industrial Model Township land case being investigated by the

Central Bureau of Investigation The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the premier investigating agency of India. It operates under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. Originally set up to investigate bribery and governmen ...

(CBI) against

Bhupinder Singh Hooda Bhupinder Singh Hooda (born 15 September 1947) is an Indian National Congress politician who is the current Leader of the Opposition in Haryana Legislative Assembly. He also served as the Chief Minister of Haryana from 2005 to 2014. When he b ...

. This under-investigation scam pertains to acquisition of 700 acre land in 3 villages near Kharkhoda in

Sonepat district Sonipat district is one of the 22 districts of Haryana state in North India. Sonipat town is the district headquarters. It is a part of National Capital Region. It is bordered by Delhi, Panipat, Rohtak, Jind, Jhajjar and Baghpat (Uttar Pradesh) ...

for the Industrial Model Township..Hooda under investigation by CBI in several cases

Navbharat Times ''Navbharat Times'' (NBT) a Hindi newspaper distributed in Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow and Kanpur. It is from the stable of Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd (BCCL), which also publishes other dailies including ''The Times of India'', ''The Economic Tim ...

, 13 Mar 2018. Punjab and Haryana High Court in March 2013 and the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...

in May 2016 had cancelled the government's decision to release land to the private builder. Two senior officials in then Chief Minister Hooda's office were indicted for allegedly favouring the developers. Subsequently, in 2018 the Government of Haryana referred the case to CBI to investigate the against Hooda and others. There are a total of 6 CBI cases and several other vigilance department investigations against Hooda underway.

is investigating several scams, mostly related to illegal land grab, that took place during his rule in Haryana. These investigations include the Gurugram-Manesar IMT land scam, Robert Vadra DLF land grab scam, Gurugram Rajiv Gandhi Trust land grab scam,

Garhi Sampla Uddar Gagan land scam Rohtak-Garhi Sampla Uddar Gagan Model Township land grab case pertains to illegal acquisition and licensing of 850.88 acres land under Bhupinder Singh Hooda's rule as the Chief Minister of Haryana. Hooda acquired land from illiterate poor farme ...

, Panchkula-HUDA Industrial plots allotment scam, AJL-National Herald Panchkula land grab scam,

Haryana Forestry scam case Haryana Forestry scam case is a multi-crore fake plantation scam allegedly involving Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Kiran Chaudhary and others where government money was embezzled. In 2009, this scam was exposed by the whistleblower, Sanjiv Chaturvedi ...

and Haryana Raxil drug purchase scam. He has been already chargesheeted in the Manesar-Gurugram land scam, while other cases are still under investigation (c. March 2018).CBI to probe two more Hooda govt land deals
The Tribune, 14 March 2018. Hooda was acquiring land from poor, illiterate farmers at a low rate in the name of ''"public interest"'' only to later license this to builders after granting out-of-turn favors that helped the land value increase exponentially. During his 10-year rule as Chief Minister, Hooda, licensed a massive 24,825 acres of land compared to just 8,550.32 acres by successive Chief Ministers in the 23 years preceding Hooda rule.Hooda’s land largesse for pvt builder ‘clear fraud’, SC restores it to HUDA

Firstpost ''Firstpost'' is an Indian online news and media website. The site is a part of the Network 18 media conglomerate owned by Reliance Industries, which also runs CNN-News18 and CNBC-TV18. The ''Network 18'' group was originally owned by Raghav ...

, 15 May 2016.

Details

Modus of scam

Ashok Khemka Ashok Khemka (अशोक खेमका) is an Indian civil service bureaucrat. He is an Indian Administrative Service officer of 1991 batch. He is best known for cancelling the mutation of Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra's illegal lan ...

, a senior

Indian Administrative Service The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services along with the Indian ...

officer in of

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...

known for exposing corruption and for cancelling the mutation of

Sonia Gandhi Sonia Gandhi ('' née'' Maino; born 9 December 1946) is an Indian politician. She is the longest serving president of the Indian National Congress, a social democratic political party, which has governed India for most of its post-independ ...

's son-in-law Robert Vadra's illegal land deal in

Gurgaon Gurgaon (pronunciation: �ʊɽɡãːw, officially named Gurugram (pronunciation: �ʊɾʊɡɾaːm, is a city located in the northern Indian state of Haryana. It is situated near the Delhi–Haryana border, about southwest of the nationa ...

, had written to Chief Minister and Chief Secretary of Haryana to seek the CBI investigation, with the findings that both Rohtak and Sonipat land scams were more blatant than the Manesar scam.Govt was alerted about Rohtak, Sonipat land acquisition scams 15 months ago

Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, t ...

, 14 Mar 2018. In 2005, Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) notified 885 acres for acquisition for housing colony for industrial workers in sectors 59 and 60 of Sonipat, out of which 300-acre land was illegally released to a private builder. 418 acres in Sonipat was released from acquisition in the same way as it was done in Gurugram-Manesar IMT land scam Manesar during Hooda’s administration.More trouble for Bhupinder Singh Hooda: Rohtak, Sonipat land takeover cases go to CBI

Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...

, 14 Mar 2018. 642 acres of land in 5 villages was notified for acquisition for developing residential and commercial sectors, by Haryana Urban Development Authority, and a notification was issued on 16 January 2004 to acquire 623.70 acres resulting in sales of land by farmers to builders at throwaway prices under the threat of acquisition. Once 418 acre of notified land was acquired by builders at throwaway prices, this was denotified and released from the acquisition, resulting in the illegal windfall gains for the builders at the expense of farmers.

Current status: CBI inquiry

Subsequently, in March 2018 the Chief Minister

Manohar Lal Khattar Manohar Lal Khattar (born 05 May 1954) is an Indian politician serving as the 10th and current chief minister of Haryana. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a former RSS pracharak. He represents Karnal constituency in Haryan ...

BJP's Government of Haryana referred the case to CBI to conduct further investigation against Hooda and others.CBI to probe two more Hooda govt land deals
The Tribune (India), 14 Mar 2018.Bhupinder Singh Hooda in the docks? Rohtak, Sonipat land cases handed over to CBI
NewsX, 14 Mar 2018.
Webindia, 13 Mar 2018. Supreme Court had also ordered Haryana Government to take action on the Dhingra Commission's report, set up to investigate grant of land licences, so that ''"pending issues could be cracked"''.

References

{{Scams and confidence tricks High Courts of India cases 21st-century scandals Cover-ups Criminal investigation Corruption in India Lawsuits Trials in India Corruption in Haryana Supreme Court of India cases Political corruption in India Indian National Congress of Haryana

Details

Modus of scam

Current status: CBI inquiry

See also

References