Panchkula PMLA Court Closes Plot Case Against Hooda, Vora, AJL

Chandigarh: A court at Panchkula in Haryana, on Friday discharged former two-time chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, veteran Congress leader Motilal Vora and the Associated Journals Ltd (AJL) in the enforcement directorate (ED) case concerning the re-allotment of a plot at old rates in Panchkula.

The development comes about a month after the Punjab and Haryana High Court discharged Hooda in the related CBI case stating that the evidence on record did not establish a prima facie case of criminality.

Special judge under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Haryana, Rajeev Goyal, closed the ED complaint holding that Hooda and AJL had already been discharged in the main case pursued by CBI. The high court had discharged both of them on February 25, last.

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Hooda’s counsel S P S Parmar said that the Special Court PMLA closed the present complaint on the ground that the ED complaint cannot survive because the accused have been discharged in predicate offence.

It may be recalled that the case originated from re-allotment of a plot in Sector 6, Panchkula to AJL by the then Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government for the publication of Navjivan newspaper at original 1982 rates. However, after BJP came to power in 2014, the CBI registered an FIR in 2016, alleging that allotting the plot at old rates caused a huge loss to the state government.