Narnaul court asks Rao Narender to appear in CLU bribery case
Chargesheet alleges Rs 30-50 cr bribe demand for land-use clearance
A court in Narnaul has directed Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee chief Rao Narender Singh to appear in connection with the Change of Land Use (CLU) scam.
After perusing the status report on January 8, the court observed that the “high court categorically observed that state would not be debarred for filing final report for want of voice samples.”
The court noted, “Accordingly, final report received by way of assignment on October 23, 2025, and the same was checked and registered. It is also pertinent to observe that in the connected FIRs, the accused persons have already been issued notices.”
Stating that there was no stay on proceedings, the court said, “Since there is no stay order in force regarding securing the presence of accused in the present case, hence, court notice be issued to the accused for February 10.”
A chargesheet against Rao Narender was filed in the Narnaul court on October 23, 2025, under the Prevention of Corruption Act for allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs 30-50 crore to clear a CLU case involving 30 acres. Rao Narender was a minister in the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government when the alleged sting operation was conducted.
The FIR was registered in December 2015 on the directions of then Haryana Lokayukta Justice Pritam Pal, following a complaint by INLD leader Rampal Majra. Rao Narender has denied the allegations, calling them political vendetta.
The Lokayukta had asked senior IPS officer V Kamraj to probe the allegations against Congress MLAs on complaints by INLD leaders, citing sting operations conducted by Dharmender Kuhar and Parveen Malik. The accused leaders had refused to provide voice samples. However, with the help of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Chandigarh, it was established that there was no tampering with the CD and the source of recording and voices involved were authentic.
In his report, Kamraj concluded that the “direct demand and agreement to accept on the part” of the public servants “is clearly established in the conversation”.
Apart from Rao Narender, MLAs Naresh Selval and Jarnail Singh, and former MLA Ram Niwas Ghorela are also facing court proceedings in the CLU scam.
