Gurugram land scam: HC upholds CBI court order summoning bizman as accused
The case pertains to the alleged purchase of land from farmers in Gurugram on cheap rates by the developers and others and as per the CBI the purchase was made under “threat and false apprehension of acquisition of the land by then Congress government in Haryana”.
The Punjab and Haryana high court has upheld a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court order regarding summoning of a company director as additional accused in Gurugram land scam involving the former chief minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
The high court bench of justice Kuldeep Tiwari dismissed plea from Amit Katyal passed by the special Panchkula court in March 2021.
The case pertains to the alleged purchase of land from farmers in Gurugram on cheap rates by the developers and others and as per the CBI the purchase was made under “threat and false apprehension of acquisition of the land by then Congress government in Haryana”. Different FIRs have been registered in the case of different licences.
As per the FIR, certain private companies conspired with the former CM and officials of the government during 2007-12 to acquire private lands, including agriculture land, at low rates in the name of “public purpose”. It is alleged that these lands were later released by the government to benefit private builders, resulting in huge loss to the farmers and the state exchequer.
This FIR was registered on January 23, 2019, by the CBI for cheating, criminal conspiracy and under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The accused include former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda and several officials of the Haryana government and the petitioner, Amit Katyal, managing director of Krrish Buildtech Pvt Ltd (now M/S Brahma City Pvt Ltd). In the case in hand, out of 151 acres of land, 130.2 acres of notified land from the acquisition proceedings was released from sectors 60 to 63 in Gurugram.
“It clearly transpires that there is sufficient incriminating evidence requiring the present petitioner to face the trial, along with other co-accused,” Justice Kuldeep Tiwari said while dismissing the plea and taking note of CBI findings.
The court took note of the CBI investigation that officers concerned in violation of all the norms and rules, hurriedly granted the licence to the accused company and did not examine technical and financial capacity of the firm, who at the time of making applications for issuance of LOI had a balance of ₹2.5 crore only which was a meagre amount for considering the prospective investment.
It is also reflected during the investigation that Katyal remained active director of the company in the year 2010 when the licence (64/ 2010) was granted on August 23, 2010, for developing 151 acres of plotted colony. The petitioner and other accused proposed to seek approval of the government for the licence despite having major discrepancy by releasing notified land of about 130 acres from the acquisition proceedings, the CBI had said.
“Prima facie, this court also found incriminating evidence against the petitioner, who since the inception and till the end played an active role in conspiracy with the other co-accused not only to obtain the LoI, but also to execute the collaboration agreements, special power of attorney, general power of attorney, with the erstwhile landowners and caused huge financial loss to them,” it said.
