The Enforcement Directorate has filed a chargesheet against Associated Journal Limited and Congress leaders Moti Lal Vora and Bhupinder Singh Hooda in the Panchkula land allotment case. Associated Journal Limited is owned by Young Indian, a company controlled by the Gandhi family. AJL publishes the National Herald newspaper.
ED files Prosecution Complaint against Associate Journal Limited (AJL), Moti Lal Vora and Bhupinder Singh Hooda before Hon’ble Special Judge,PMLA, Panchkula in Panchkula Land Allotment case.
— ED (@dir_ed) August 26, 2019
The ED informed that a Prosecution Complaint against the company and two Congress leaders have been filed at before a special PMLA court in Panchkula.
The case relates to irregularities in allotting a plot of land at Panchkula to AJL by the then Hooda government in Haryana.
According to ED investigation, the plot number C-17, sector 6, Panchkula was allotted to the AJL in the year 1982 as per the request of the company to start the Nav-Jivan newspaper. However, the AJL did not abide by the terms and conditions of the allotment, and therefore in 1992 the estate officer, HUDA, Panchkula had ordered to take back the plot on the ground that AJL violated the necessary terms and conditions of the allotment letter by not starting the construction and completing the same within the specified time period.
However, the Bhupinder Hooda government had, in 2005, re-allocated the plot to AJL under for the original price plus interest at a mere 59.39 lakh rupees.
In May this year, the ED had permanently attached the property in Panchkula in relation to the case, which is valued at Rs 64.93 crores.
Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is being probed by ED and CBI in several corruption cases. Among several land allotment scams, one is related to granting licences to Vadra’s Skylight Hospitality for building a colony in Gurgaon.
