Panchkula, April 3 A special court in Panchkula on Friday acquitted former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Associated Journals Limited in a money laundering case linked to the re-allotment of a plot in Panchkula, after closing the Enforcement Directorate's case against them.
The order follows a ruling by the Punjab and Haryana High Court dated February 25, which overturned a 2021 order that had framed charges against Hooda and others in the case.
Congress veteran Hooda appeared in person during the proceedings.
Special Judge under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Rajeev Goyal, closed the ED's complaint, as Hooda and the Associated Journals Limited (AJL), the publisher of National Herald, had already been acquitted in the main case pursued by the CBI, Hooda's counsel, S P S Parmar, told reporters here.
“The court closed the ED case as the predicate had already been decided by the Punjab and Haryana High Court,” Parmar said.
The high court had overturned criminal charges against Hooda and the AJL in connection with the re-allotment of a plot in Panchkula.
The high court bench of Justice Tribhuvan Dahiya overturned the April 2021 order of a special CBI court that framed charges against the accused, and dismissed their discharge pleas.
The high court had observed that the material placed on record did not even prima facie establish the essential ingredients of the alleged offences against the petitioners.
It held that there were no sufficient grounds to proceed against them in the matter.
“Continuation of prosecution will be an abuse of the process of the court. The impugned orders, dated 16.04.2021, framing charges against the petitioners as well as dismissing the discharge application, are hereby set aside along with all subsequent proceedings arising therefrom, and the petitioners stand discharged,” the high court order said.
The case is related to the allotment of a plot in Sector 6, Panchkula, by the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), now known as the Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran, to the AJL in 1982.
The plot was resumed in 1992 after construction was not completed within the stipulated period.
HUDA dismissed AJL's appeals in 1995 and 1996.
After Hooda became the Haryana chief minister in 2005, the plot was re-allotted to the AJL at the original rate.
After the BJP came to power in Haryana, the state Vigilance Bureau registered a case in the matter in 2016, which was later taken over by the CBI.
It was alleged that the re-allotment of the plot caused financial losses to the public exchequer.
In April 2021, the special CBI court ordered framing of charges under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of the IPC and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act against Hooda and the AJL.
Hooda then approached the high court challenging the special CBI court order.
In 2019, the ED had filed its first chargesheet in the case.