ED charges Hooda in Panchkula case

CHANDIGARH: The Enforcement Directorate has filed a prosecution complaint (chargesheet) against former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda and 20 others, including some IAS officers, in a money laundering case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with the Panchkula industrial plot allotment scam.
Significantly, the daughter-in-law of a judge of Punjab and Haryana high court, who was allotted one of the plots, also figures in the report.
The prosecution complaint was filed with the special court for ED cases in Panchkula. Special judge for ED cases Jagdeep Singh will consider the report submitted by the ED on February 18.
Hooda had allotted 14 industrial plots worth around Rs 30.3 crore in a prime area of Panchkula to 14 acquaintances in 2013 allegedly at rates four-five times below the circle rate and 7-8 times below the market rate. Prominent beneficiaries of the scheme included close members of the Hooda family, his MLAs/party workers and his personal staff in the chief minister’s office.
Prominent among those named in the prosecution complaint include Hooda; Dharam Pal Singh Nagal (retired IAS officer and the then chief administrator, Haryana Urban Development Authority); Surjit Singh, IAS and the then administrator, HUDA; Subhash Chandra Kansal, the then chief controller of finance, HUDA; Narinder Kumar Solanki, the then zonal administrator, Faridabad zone, HUDA; and Bharat Bhushan Taneja, the then superintendent, HUDA.
The ED also found that the criteria were altered a few days after the last date of application and when all the applicant data was in possession of HUDA to favour the allottees who had been selected in advance.
An FIR was registered on December 19, 2015, against Hooda, who was the chairperson of HUDA at the time of the allotment, and others.