Punjab Newsline | Panchkula
In a major relief, Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has been discharged by a CBI special court in Panchkula in the Associated Journals Limited (AJL) plot allotment case. On Friday, the court cleared Hooda and former AJL chairman Motilal Vora of all charges.
Vora, who also served as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, passed away six years ago. Meanwhile, 78-year-old Hooda appeared before the court in person during the hearing.
Earlier, Hooda had approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court challenging the framing of charges by the CBI special court and sought a stay on the proceedings. About a month ago, a single bench of Justice Tribhuvan Dahiya observed that continuing a criminal trial without sufficient grounds amounts to an abuse of the judicial process. The court had noted that prima facie charges were not made out and set aside the order framing charges.
Following this, the matter was heard again on Friday in the CBI special court. After hearing arguments from Hooda’s counsel, SPS Parmar, the court discharged both Hooda and Vora from the case.
The case pertains to the allotment of a government plot measuring around 3,360 square meters in Sector 6, Panchkula. The CBI had named Hooda along with four senior officials of HSVP as accused. Hooda was alleged to have allotted the plot, valued at ₹64.93 crore, to AJL for just ₹69.39 lakh.