Bhupinder Singh Hooda granted bail in Manesar Land deal case

Former chief minister Hooda appeared before the court of special CBI judge Jagdeep Singh. "He was granted bail by the court," the former chief minister's counsel Arshdeep Singh Cheema said.

The court granted bail to Bhupinder Singh Hooda after accepting two surety bonds of Rs five lakh each, said Cheema. He has also been asked not to leave the country without seeking the permission of the court, Cheema added.

The next hearing in the case has been fixed for May 31, the lawyer said.

Bhupinder Singh Hooda had not appeared before the court during the last hearing on April 19 citing medical reasons. The Congress leader had stated he was admitted in AIIMS in Delhi.

Several Congress leaders including MLAs were present outside the Panchkula court complex. They included former Haryana Vidhan Speaker and MLA Kuldeep Sharma, MLAs Raghuvir Singh Kadian, Anand Singh Dangi, Karan Dalal, Lalit Nagar and the former chief minister's son and MP Deepinder Hooda.

Bhupinder Singh Hooda and 33 others were charge sheeted by the CBI in a case of alleged corruption in Manesar land deals worth over Rs 1,500 crore, in which around 200 farmers were cheated.

The 33 persons against whom the charge sheet was filed included, former principal secretary Murari Lal Tayal, former additional principal secretary and former UPSC member Chattar Singh - both retired IAS officers and former Director of Town and Country Planning Sudeep Singh Dhillon.

They were booked under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and cheating and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

It was alleged on August 27, 2004 and August 25, 2005, the Haryana government had issued separate notifications for the acquisition of 912 acres of land for setting up an industrial model township at Manesar, Naurangpur and Lakhnoula villages in Gurgaon.

Threatening the farmers with the governments acquisition process, builders allegedly purchased around 459 acres from farmers at prices in the range of Rs 20-25 lakh per acre to Rs 1.50 crore per acre, the CBI had alleged.

Around 350 acres of land were bought at throw-away price of Rs 20-25 lakh per acre, while another 50 acres at the rate of even Rs 1.50 crore (approx) per acre, it had said.

In 2007, the builders allegedly gave a plea in the office of the then chief minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, seeking withdrawal of the acquisition process which was done two months later on August 24, the CBI had alleged.

The CBI had claimed that the government allegedly cited frivolous grounds such as the shape of land not being appropriate for acquisition and many properties being under litigation to keep the land out of the acquisition process.

The CBI had further alleged that land measuring more than 400 acres, whose market value at that time was above Rs 4 crore (approx) per acre, totalling about Rs 1,600 crore was thus allegedly purchased by the conspirators from the innocent land owners for only about Rs 100 crore, thus causing an alleged loss of more than Rs 1,500 crore to land owners.

The BJP, after coming to power, had ordered a CBI probe in the matter.