Expedite Manesar land scam trial: CBI court

Chandigarh, October 19

In view of the 14 truncated hearings in the Manesar land scam case due to the Covid pandemic, the CBI special court in Panchkula has called for speeding up the trial.

Among the 34 accused are Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda, retired IAS officers and private companies.

In the last hearing on October 15, neither the accused nor their lawyers were present. CBI Special Judge Jagdeep Singh had said that “since the matter pertains to… legislators and proceedings in such cases are to be conducted expeditiously, notices must be issued to the accused as well as their counsel to explore the possibility of conducting further proceedings through video-conferencing if physical hearing of the case does not get fully functional”.

He Judge had further said that in case physical hearing was made mandatory till the next date of hearing, which is on November 16, all accused shall be present on the adjourned date.

Recently, the Supreme Court had also called for expeditious trial of MLAs and MPs facing criminal cases.

In the Manesar land scam, the CBI had filed a chargesheet against then Chief Minister Hooda, former principal secretaries to then CM and then Director Town and Country Planning SS Dhillon for cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy in the Rs 1,500 crore scam.

A notification to acquire 912 acres and 7 marlas was issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, on August 27, 2004, in Gurugram’s Manesar, Lakhnaula and Naurangpur villages.

Landowners, in haste, sold land at throwaway rates of Rs 20 lakh to Rs 25 lakh per acre. According to the CBI, the land mafia bought the land on the pretext of acquisition by the state at meagre rates. Subsequently, then Director (Industries), in violation of government policy, passed an order for releasing the land in favour of builders, their companies and agents instead of the original landowners.