The ED has filed a charge sheet against former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, four retired IAS officials and a few others in a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the allocation of more than a dozen parcels worth more than Rs 30 million in Panchkula. area in 2013, authorities said Tuesday.
The central investigative agency claimed that “worthy applicants were expelled on merit and applicants who were closely related to Hooda, in terms of their personal capacity and also in terms of the political party to which he belongs, were assigned these plots.” .
The Directorate of Execution (ED) said that the plots were assigned to “acquaintances of the then CM (Hooda)”.
The Haryana Surveillance Office reserved a case in 2015 to investigate these alleged irregularities, and subsequently the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the ED presented their respective cases.
The agency appointed Hooda, retired IAS officers, Dharam Pal Singh Nagal (the then chief administrator of the Haryana Urban Development Authority or HUDA), Surjit Singh (the then HUDA administrator), Subhash Chandra Kansal (former Chief Financial Officer, HUDA), Narinder Kumar Solanki (Former Zone Administrator, HUDA Faridabad Zone), as well as Bharat Bhushan Taneja (then Superintendent, HUDA) and the 14 awardees and beneficiaries of the industrial parcels on the worksheet. charges or demand of the prosecution.
The complaint, the ED said, has been filed under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) before a special court in Panchkula.
The agency said its investigation found that “as a result of a criminal conspiracy, the then Haryana chief minister and ex-officio president of HUDA (Hooda), retired IAS officers and other HUDA officials in Panchkula illegally benefited from pre it selected acquaintances of the then state CM, assigning them 14 industrial plots and denying them the award to more worthy candidates ”.
The plots are located in Panchkula and the allocation was carried out in 2013.
The ED said that it was discovered during its investigation “that the price set for the assignment in question remained four to five times below the circle rate and seven to eight times (higher than) the market rate.”
“The criteria for assignment were changed 18 days after the last application date and when all of the applicant’s data was in HUDA’s possession.
“The criteria were modified in such a way that the shortlisted applicants were favored, increasing the discretion in the hands of the interview committee. The entire interview process was flawed and compromised since a formal record of assigning grades was not kept, ”alleged the ED.
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