CBI searches residence of Bhupinder Singh Hooda, 19 other locations

NEW DELHI: In a fresh trouble for former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the Central Bureau of Investigation ( CBI) on Saturday conducted raids at 20 locations including his residences. The close aides of Hooda including former Principal Secretary M L Tayal and Union Public Service Commission ( UPSC) member Chattar Singh are also under the agency's scanner besides several others.

In September last year, CBI had registered a case against the builders and other government officials during the regime of the Congress-led government in Haryana for their alleged role in the purchase of 400 acres of land from the farmers in Gurugram for Rs 100 crores when the actual worth of the land was estimated to be Rs 1,600 crore.

The farmers sold their lands in desperation because they were under threat of land acquisition between August 2004 and August 2007. The land acquisition process had started in August 2004 by the Om Prakash Chautala-led INLD government which wanted to set up an Industrial Model Town (IMT) in the name of former deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal.

Sources said raid are also in progress at Hooda's Panchkula residence. Raid is also being conducted at the residence of Congress Spokesperson Ran Singh Mann who is also a close aide of Hooda.

The CBI in January this year had collected documents pertaining to the allotment of land to several leading real estate developers in Haryana from the revenue department of the state government as part of its investigations into the alleged irregularities in the acquisition of land by the private firms in Manesar, Naurangpur and Lakhnoula villages in Gurgaon.