The Haryana Police booked businessman Robert Vadra, the son-in-low of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, and former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Saturday in connection with alleged irregularities in some land deals in Gurgaon.
An FIR against Vadra, Hooda and two companies – DLF and Onkareshwar Properties – has been registered at the Kherki Daula police station in Gurgaon
“We received a complaint today from one Surinder Sharma, resident of Nuh, in which he alleged irregularities in the land deals,” Manesar Deputy Commissioner of Police Rajesh Kumar told PTI.
In February, Hooda and 33 others were chargesheeted by the CBI in another case of corruption related to land deals in Manesar, Naurangpur and Lakhnoula villages of Gurgaon. The chargesheet had alleged a scam totaling Rs 1,500 crore.
According to the new FIR, Vadra’s company Skylight Hospitality Pvt Ltd purchased 3.5 acres in Sector 83 of Gurgaon from Onkareshwar Properties for Rs 7.50 crore in 2008, when Hooda was the CM who also held the portfolio of the town and county planning.
Sharma alleged that Skylight Hospitality later sold this land to realty major DLF for Rs 58 crore after procuring a commercial licence for development of the colony “with the influence of Hooda”.
In return, Sharma claimed, the state government allotted 350 acres to DLF at Wazirabad in Gurgaon in violation of rules. The realty major allegedly made Rs 5,000 crore in the quid pro quo.
According to Sharma, Skylight made a profit of about Rs 50 crore, a charge Vadra has dismissed in the past.
On May 14, 2015, the Haryana government led by Manohar Lal Khattar set up a one-man commission to probe the grant of licences by the Department of Town and Country Planning to develop housing and commercial colonies in Gurgaon’s Sector 83.
This included the alleged deals between Skylight Hospitality and DLF.
The Justice S N Dhingra Commission, formed under the Commission of Inquiry Act, had examined the licences given by the then Hooda government for developing real estate in four villages of Sihi, Shikohpur, Kherki Daula and Sikanderpur Bada.
Vadra and Hooda have now been booked under Sections 420 (cheating), 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 467 (forgery), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of the IPC, and Section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The complainant said the payment had been made to Onkareshwar Properties through a cheque, which was mentioned in the registered deed.
The complainant alleged that Onkareshwar Properties never deposited the cheque, indicating it was a shell company.
(With PTI)