DLF land deal: FIR filed against Robert Vadra, former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda

The Haryana Police on Saturday booked Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra and former state Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda for alleged irregularities in land deals in Gurgaon. Informing about the move, Manesar Deputy Commissioner of Police Rajesh Kumar yesterday said that an FIR against Vadra, Hooda and two companies - DLF and Onkareshwar Properties - has been filed at 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," he said.

According to the FIR, Robert Vadra's firm Skylight Hospitality Pvt Ltd purchased 3.5 acre of land in Gurgaon's Sector 83 from Onkareshwar Properties for Rs 7.50 crore in 2008, when Hooda was the Chief Minister and also held the portfolio of the Town and County Planning Department.

Later, Skylight Hospitality sold this land to DLF at a price of Rs 58 crore, after procuring a commercial licence for the development of the colony with the influence of Hooda. Vadra's company thus made a profit of about Rs 50 crore, complainant Sharma alleged in the FIR.

The complainant further claimed that the state government in return allotted 350 acres of land to DLF at Wazirabad in Gurgaon in violation of rules. In the quid pro quo DLF made Rs 5,000 crore, he added. According to Sharma, the payment to Onkareshwar Properties was made through a cheque. However, Onkareshwar Properties never deposited the cheque. It indicated that it was a shell company, Sharma claimed in the FIR.

The Police have booked Vadra and Hooda 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.

In 2015, the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government had set up Justice S N Dhingra Commission to probe the grant of licences by the Department of Town and Country Planning for developing housing and commercial colonies in Gurgaon's Sector 83. This included the alleged deals between Skylight Hospitality and DLF. The Commission had examined the licences given by the then Hooda government for developing real estate in four Guragon villages of Sihi, Shikohpur, Kherki Daula and Sikanderpur Bada.

Earlier this year, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had chargesheeted Bhupinder Singh Hooda and 33 others in another case of alleged corruption in Manesar land deals - in which around 200 farmers were cheated - worth over Rs 1,500 crore.

(With inputs from PTI)