Sonepat-Kharkhoda Industrial Model Township land case being investigated by the

Central Bureau of Investigation The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the domestic crime investigating agency of India. It operates under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. Originally set up to investigate bribery and gover ...

(CBI) against

Bhupinder Singh Hooda Bhupinder Singh Hooda (born 15 September 1947) is an Indian National Congress politician, who has served as the Chief Minister of Haryana from 2005 to 2014. He was the Leader of the Opposition in Haryana Legislative Assembly from 2019 to 2024 ...

. This under-investigation scam pertains to acquisition of 700 acre land in 3 villages near Kharkhoda in Sonepat district for the Industrial Model Township..Hooda under investigation by CBI in several cases

Navbharat Times ''Navbharat Times'' (NBT; ) is a Hindi newspaper distributed in Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow and Kanpur. It is from the stable of Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd (BCCL), which also publishes other dailies including ''The Times of India'', ''The Economic ...

, 13 Mar 2018.

Punjab and Haryana High Court Punjab and Haryana High Court is the common High Court for the Indian states of Punjab and Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh based in Chandigarh, India. Sanctioned strength of Judges of this High Court is 85 consisting of 64 Pe ...

in March 2013 and the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...

in May 2016 had cancelled the government's decision to release land to the private builder. Two senior officials in then Chief Minister Hooda's office were indicted for allegedly favouring the developers. Subsequently, in 2018 the Government of Haryana referred the case to CBI to investigate the against Hooda and others. There are a total of 6 CBI cases and several other vigilance department investigations against Hooda underway.

is investigating several scams, mostly related to illegal land grab, that took place during his rule in Haryana. These investigations include the Gurugram-Manesar IMT land scam, Robert Vadra DLF land grab scam, Gurugram Rajiv Gandhi Trust land grab scam, Garhi Sampla Uddar Gagan land scam, Panchkula-HUDA Industrial plots allotment scam, AJL-National Herald Panchkula land grab scam, Haryana Forestry scam case and Haryana Raxil drug purchase scam. He has been already chargesheeted in the Manesar-Gurugram land scam, while other cases are still under investigation (c. March 2018).CBI to probe two more Hooda govt land deals

The Tribune ''The Tribune'' or ''Tribune'' is the name of various newspapers: United States Daily California *''Oakland Tribune'' * ''The Tribune'' (San Luis Obispo) * ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' *''San Gabriel Valley Tribune'' Indiana *''Kokomo Tribune' ...

, 14 March 2018. Hooda was acquiring land from poor, illiterate farmers at a low rate in the name of ''"public interest"'' only to later license this to builders after granting out-of-turn favors that helped the land value increase exponentially. During his 10-year rule as Chief Minister, Hooda, licensed a massive 24,825 acres of land compared to just 8,550.32 acres by successive Chief Ministers in the 23 years preceding Hooda rule.Hooda’s land largesse for pvt builder ‘clear fraud’, SC restores it to HUDA

Firstpost Firstpost is an Indian news website owned by Network18 Group, which also runs CNN-News18 and CNBC TV18. It has posted misinformation on multiple occasions. The Network 18 group was originally owned by Raghav Bahl. In January 2012, the gro ...

, 15 May 2016.

Details

Modus of scam

Ashok Khemka Ashok Khemka (born 30 April 1965) is a retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer & civil servant from the 1991 batch. As of March 2025, he had been transferred 66 times during his career, making him the second-most transferred bureauc ...

, a senior

Indian Administrative Service The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the Public administration, administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. The IAS is one of the three All India Services along with the Indian Police Service (IPS) and the Indian ...

officer in of

Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...

known for exposing corruption and for cancelling the mutation of

Sonia Gandhi Sonia Gandhi (, ; ; born 9 December 1946) is an Indian politician. She is the longest-serving president of the Indian National Congress, a big-tent liberal political party, which has governed India for most of its post-independence history. ...

's son-in-law

Robert Vadra Robert Vadra (born 18 April 1969) is an Indian entrepreneur, and the husband of Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi. Early life and family Robert Vadra was born in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, to Rajendra Vadra and Maureen on 18 April 1969. His father's ...

's illegal land deal in

Gurgaon Gurgaon (), officially named Gurugram (), is a satellite city of Delhi and administrative headquarters of Gurgaon district, located in the northern Indian state of Haryana. It is situated near the Delhi–Haryana border, about southwest ...

, had written to Chief Minister and Chief Secretary of Haryana to seek the CBI investigation, with the findings that both Rohtak and Sonipat land scams were more blatant than the Manesar scam.Govt was alerted about Rohtak, Sonipat land acquisition scams 15 months ago

Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

, 14 Mar 2018. In 2005, Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) notified 885 acres for acquisition for housing colony for industrial workers in sectors 59 and 60 of Sonipat, out of which 300-acre land was illegally released to a private builder. 418 acres in Sonipat was released from acquisition in the same way as it was done in Gurugram-Manesar IMT land scam Manesar during Hooda’s administration.More trouble for Bhupinder Singh Hooda: Rohtak, Sonipat land takeover cases go to CBI

Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language India, Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the Indian Express Limited, ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnat ...

, 14 Mar 2018. 642 acres of land in 5 villages was notified for acquisition for developing residential and commercial sectors, by

Haryana Urban Development Authority Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP), formerly Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), is the urban planning agency of the state of Haryana in India except Gurugram and Faridabad which has Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority an ...

, and a notification was issued on 16 January 2004 to acquire 623.70 acres resulting in sales of land by farmers to builders at throwaway prices under the threat of acquisition. Once 418 acre of notified land was acquired by builders at throwaway prices, this was denotified and released from the acquisition, resulting in the illegal windfall gains for the builders at the expense of farmers.

Current status: CBI inquiry

Subsequently, in March 2018 the Chief Minister

Manohar Lal Khattar Manohar Lal Khattar (born 5 May 1954) is an Indian politician who has been serving as the Minister of Power and Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs in the central Modi government since June 2024. A prominent leader of the Bharatiya Janata P ...

BJP's Government of Haryana referred the case to CBI to conduct further investigation against Hooda and others.CBI to probe two more Hooda govt land deals

(India), 14 Mar 2018.Bhupinder Singh Hooda in the docks? Rohtak, Sonipat land cases handed over to CBI
NewsX, 14 Mar 2018.
Webindia, 13 Mar 2018. Supreme Court had also ordered Haryana Government to take action on the Dhingra Commission's report, set up to investigate grant of land licences, so that ''"pending issues could be cracked"''.

References

{{Scams and confidence tricks High courts of India cases 21st-century scandals Cover-ups Criminal investigation Corruption in India Lawsuits in India Trials in India Corruption in Haryana Supreme Court of India cases Political corruption in India Indian National Congress of Haryana

Details

Modus of scam

Current status: CBI inquiry

See also

References