Former CM Hooda, Robert Vadra booked in fraudulent land deal case

Pradeep Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 1

The Gurugram Police on Saturday booked former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Congress president Rahul Gandhi's businessman brother-in-law Robert Vadra in an alleged fraudulent land transaction case in Sector 83, Gurugram.

Besides Hooda and Vadra, realty giant DLF and realty firm Onkareshwar Properties were also booked by the Khedki Daula police in Gurugram district under Sections 120-B, 420, 467, 468 and 471 of the IPC and Section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

A complaint against the accused was lodged by Surender Singh, a resident of Tauru in Nuh district, alleging fraudulent land transaction in Shikohpur, Sector 83 of Gurugram in 2008.

It was alleged that Skylight Hospitality, a Vadra firm, was registered in 2007 with a capital of just Rs 1 lakh. In the year 2008, Skylight purchased land measuring 3.5 acres in Sector 83 for Rs 7.5 crore from Onkareshwar Properties though the cheque for Rs 7.5 crore was never encashed by the seller.

The complaint alleged that the soon after getting a licence to develop a commercial colony in 2008, the Skylight Hospitality sold off the land to realty major DLF for a whopping Rs 58 crore. 

It was alleged that Hooda, who also held the charge of the Department of Town and Country Planning at that time, violated rules and regulations to grant commercial colony licence to Skylight Hospitality. The financial and technical capacity of the company, which was one of the criteria for the grant of the colony licence, was never assessed by the state government.

Alleging quid pro quo between Vadra and DLF, the complaint alleged that  the DLF was favoured in the  allotment of around 350 acres of land for a golf course in Wazirabad (Gurugram) soon after the deal between the Vadra firm and the DLF.

It may be recalled that whistleblower IAS officer Ashok Khemka has cancelled the mutation of this particular land in 2012 for allegedly violating rules and regulations. Khemka had also raised questions about the nature of this transaction between Vadra and DLF.  

The Skylight Hospitality purchased 3.53 acres of land in Shikohpur  on February 12, 2008, for Rs 7.5 crore and the mutation was done in its favour the next day. On March 28, 2008, the town and country planning department issued the company LOI/licence to develop a housing colony over 2.701 acres, the officer had alleged.