Chandigarh, April 3 – A trial court in Panchkula, Haryana, on Friday closed the Enforcement Directorate's complaint against Congress leader and two-time Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Associated Journals Ltd (AJL) regarding the re-allotment of a plot for institutional use at old rates in 2005. AJL is linked to Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
Special Judge under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Rajeev Goyal, closed the ED's complaint against Hooda and AJL, as they had already been discharged in the main case by the CBI.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court had discharged Hooda and AJL on February 25, with Justice Tribhuvan Dahiya observing that there were no sufficient grounds to proceed with a criminal trial, noting that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case of “dishonest intention or wrongful gain”.
"Under the legal precedent established by the Supreme Court in the Vijay Madanlal Choudhary case, an ED complaint cannot survive if the accused is discharged in the predicate offence investigated by the CBI," observed Justice Dahiya.
Responding to the closure of the ED's complaint, Hooda's counsel S.P.S. Parmar told the media, "In light of the Supreme Court judgment, the ED complaint cannot survive because the accused have been discharged in the primary CBI case."
The former Chief Minister was booked by the CBI on charges of cheating and corruption in the re-allotment of land to AJL, which is headed by Vora.
Hooda, as Chief Minister (2005–14), was Chairman of the Haryana Urban Development Authority at the time of the plot’s re-allotment.
Hooda and office-bearers of AJL -- the promoters of The National Herald newspaper -- were charged with the illegal re-allotment of the plot to AJL in 2005.
The plot, C-17 in Sector 6 in Panchkula, measuring around 3,360 square metres, was re-allotted to AJL on June 29, 2005.
Earlier, in 1982, the plot had been allotted to AJL but was taken back in 1996 after the company failed to construct a building at the site.
Hooda had defended his decision, saying that there was no wrongdoing in the re-allotment. After the re-allotment of the land, AJL completed construction on the plot.
With a change in the state government in 2016, the CBI registered an FIR alleging that the plot's actual market value was nearly Rs 65 crore and that the re-allotment bypassed the recommendations of bureaucrats.