Summary:
CHANDIGARH: A special CBI court in Panchkula on Thursday granted bail to former Haryana bureaucrats including ML Tayal, Chattar Singh, SS Dhillon and several builders in relation to the Manesar land scam.Special CBI judge Jagdeep Singh has granted them bail after they appeared before the court to face prosecution. Accused were also given the copies of charge sheet submitted by the CBI.Tayal, Chhatar Singh and Dhillon had served as principal secretary to CM during Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s regime.Among the builders who have been exempted from appearance includes Gaurav Chaudhary, son of a serving judge of the Punjab and Haryana high court in Chandigarh.Main accused and former Haryana chief minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda was given exemption from the hearing after senior advocate RS Cheema informed the court that former CM is extremely unwell due to diabetes-related problems and is undergoing treatment at AIIMS. Hooda’s bail plea would be filed later.On March 16, the CBI court had issued summons to Hooda and 33 other accused persons asking them to appear before the court to face prosecution in relation to the land scam They have been charged under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with section 420 (cheating) and various sections of prevention of corruption act for obtaining valuable thing or pecuniary advantage by corrupt or illegal means.The main allegations in the entire scam are that hundreds of acre land acquired from innocent farmers of Manesar and adjoining village in Gurugram district at a low rate for “public purpose” was later licensed to real estate companies/builders/colonizers after bestowing out of term favours and concessions.On September 17, 2015, CBI had registered an FIR in relation to the scam..