Chandigarh: The Haryana government has granted sanction to prosecute senior Congress leader and former two-time chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and three former officials in a CBI case involving allotment of 14 industrial plots in Panchkula.
The CBI had flagged alleged irregularities in the allotment of the 14 plots, made in 2013 when Hooda was the chief minister. The CBI, which registered a case in 2016, sought Haryana government’s sanction to prosecute Hooda in February, 2026.
Besides Hooda, other accused in the case included three senior officials of Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), namely D P S Nagal, the then chief administrator, HUDA, the then chief controller of finance S C Kansal and former deputy superintendent, B B Taneja.
The CBI had registered the FIR against Hooda and the three senior HUDA officials and 13 beneficiaries of the industrial plots, besides some unknown persons, in May 2016, replicating the FIR registered by Haryana vigilance bureau in December, 2015. The case was later transferred to the CBI.
For record, the applications for said plots were invited between December 2011 and January, 2012 while the allotments were made in 2013 in Panchkula, allegedly to ineligible persons. It was also alleged that Hooda misused his position and got the allotment criteria changed so as to allot the plots to ineligible applicants.
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It may also be recalled that the enforcement directorate (ED) which had also registered a case had already filed a charge sheet against Hooda, officials and the allottees in February, 2021 under prevention of money laundering Act (PMLA) in a special court in Panchkula which paused the trial till the CBI submitted its charge-sheet in the case.
Hooda has been named as the ``central conspirator’’ in ED’s prosecution complaint. The ED also claimed that the allottees were well acquainted with Hooda. The ED also claimed that the plots were offered at significantly lower price than the then current market price, thus resulting in a substantial loss to the state exchequer.
