Hisar court acquits middleman in cash-for-CLU scam case

The court of Hisar Additional District and Sessions Judge Khatri Saurabh on Monday acquitted Bhuvnesh Allawadhi, who had reportedly arranged a meeting between a sting operator and the then Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Vinod Bhayana, regarding a change of land use (CLU) in Gurugram. This is the first acquittal in the ‘Cash for CLU scam' and could impact the outcome of other similar cases against Congress leaders, including state president Rao Narender Singh and MLAs Naresh Selval and Jarnail Singh.

Bhayana is now a BJP MLA, and the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) had never pursued a case against him. According to the sting operator, Dharmender Kuhar, he met Allawadhi, who told him he could arrange a meeting with Bhayana, the then Chief Parliamentary Secretary, to help him obtain a CLU. Kuhar had, along with Allawadhi, gone to Bhayana’s house in Hansi, with a spy camera. He testified before the court that after reviewing his papers, Bhayana told him that the work of CLU would be done, and that the rest of the discussion would have to be with Allawadhi. He had further said the deal was settled at Rs 2.5 crore, while Allawadhi had demanded Rs 25-30 lakh separately for obtaining a lease for a Wakf Board property at Barwala.

Kuhar told the court that thereafter, he went to different news channels, but they refused to play his sting operation. Thereafter, he went to the house of Abhay Chautala (current president of the Indian National Lok Dal), where Krishan Lal Panwar (now a BJP minister in the Saini government) was also present, and handed over the CD.

Kuhar had carried out similar sting operations on other Congress leaders, including Narender Singh. They were allegedly seeking a bribe for granting CLUs. They are facing trial in different courts.

INLD leaders had approached the Haryana Lokayukta on basis of Kuhar’s sting operations, who ordered FIRs to be filed in the scam. The FIRs were registered in 2016.

In Allawadhi case, the court said that the certificate submitted by Kuhar regarding the submitted CD didn’t fulfil the requirements of Section 65-B of the Evidence Act, as it “does not furnish the particulars such as brand name, serial number of the product, model number, etc. of the devices involved in the production of the CD in question.”

It added that DSP Sharif Singh of the ACB admitted that they had not taken the “original memory chip of sting operation in police custody, and in the absence of the same, the authenticity of the recording contained in the CD could never be said to have been established.”

The court said Kuhar stated the year of the operation as 2014 in his certificate, 2011 in his cross-examination, and 2013 to the DSP during investigation. The court observed that if the year of the operation was taken as 2011, “then it raises serious doubts as to why there was a delay of around five years in registration of the present FIR in the year 2016.”

Kuhar had moved an application to summon Bhayana as an accused during the trial, but the court had rejected it on September 6.