Former CM Hooda granted bail in Manesar land deal case

A special CBI court in Panchkula on Tuesday granted bail to former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in a case related to a multi-crore Manesar land scams.

Former Chief Minister Hooda appeared before the court of special CBI judge Jagdeep Singh.

The bail was granted after Hooda furnished two bonds of Rs 5 lakh each through his counsel.

“Hooda was granted bail by the court,” said the former Chief Minister’s counsel Arshdeep Singh Cheema, while talking to the mediapersons.

Cheema said, “The court granted bail to Bhupinder Singh Hooda after accepting two surety bonds of  Rs  five lakh each. Hooda has also been asked not to leave the country without seeking the permission of the court.”

The next hearing in the case has been fixed for May 31.

Several Congress leaders including MLAs were present outside the Panchkula court complex on Tuesday. They included former Haryana Vidhan Speaker and MLA Kuldeep Sharma, MLAs Raghuvir Singh Kadian, Anand Singh Dangi, Karan Dalal, Lalit Nagar and the former Chief Minister’s son and MP Deepender Hooda.

The two-time former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had not appeared before the court during the last hearing on April 19 citing medical reasons.  His counsel had stated that the senior Congress leader was admitted in AIIMS at Delhi.

Alleging a multi-crore scam of prime land in Manesar in Haryana’s realty goldmine district of Gurugram, the CBI, in February this year, had filed a chargesheet in the land deal against Hooda, senior bureaucrats and others.

The chargesheet had named 34 accused including senior bureaucrats Chhattar Singh, SS Dhillon and ML Tayal among others. All three officers were Principal Secretaries to the Chief Minister.

The CBI had registered a case against the accused in September 2015 following allegations that private builders, in conspiracy with public servants of the Haryana Government, had bought around 400 acres of land from farmers and landowners of Manesar, Naurangpur and Lakhnoula villages in Gurugram (then Gurgaon) district at throwaway prices.

The land was valued, at that time, at more than Rs 1,500 crore but it was bought by the builders for around Rs 100 crore.

The land was bought in the period from August 2004 to August 2007. The Congress government in Haryana, led by Chief Minister Hooda, remained in power from March 2005 to October 2014.

The BJP, after coming to power in Haryana, had ordered a CBI probe in the matter.