CBI summons Additional Principal Secretary to CM

Geetanjali Gayatri

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 24

After seeking property records of three IAS officers from Haryana in its ongoing investigation into the 400-acre Manesar land deal, the CBI has now summoned 1997-batch officer Rakesh Gupta.

Presently posted as Additional Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Gupta has been asked to join investigation in a case in which the Enforcement Directorate has already raided premises of former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda besides other key officers.

Gupta, as the Deputy Commissioner of Gurgaon in 2007, had forwarded a request letter to the then Congress government seeking “early action” with regard to release of “pucca houses” falling in the area notified for acquisition. The “action” was sought in keeping with the demand of Manesar villagers.

Sources said that Gupta wrote the letter following a road blockade by villagers who were seeking release of their houses from acquisition proceedings, taking the plea that these had been in existence for over 40 years.

The government, taking a view on the acquisition, chose to drop the entire proceedings after notifying Section 4 and Section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, instead of releasing only the land where these houses stood.

Sources said that if the government had acted on the “recommendation” made by the then DC, it would not have released the remaining land on which licences were later given.

Sources said that the investigating agency which had already sought property details of three officers, including Gupta, was trying to establish if the real estate players were favoured in the Manesar land deal release case and whether there was any kind of quid pro quo.

In 2015, the CBI had registered a case against builders for their alleged role in the purchase of 400 acres of land from farmers at very low rates in Manesar and against Haryana’s officers since the land was later released from acquisition.

The allegation is that the villagers sold off their land to private builders in desperation once acquisition proceedings were announced and notified. After Section 6, the government dropped the proceedings which resulted in alleged “windfall gains” made by the builders who had purchased the land and got licences for colonies. The villagers, feeling cheated, decided to move court against the release of the land.