In the latest breakthrough in the land scam case involving Robert Vadra and former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda among others, Gurugram Police have written a letter under Prevention of Corruption Act (17A) to Director General of police (DGP) B S Sandhu, seeking approval of relevant authority from the State Government to further begin probe against the duo. The latter was sent to DGP on Saturday.
As the case was registered, including under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act 1988, police need prior approval from the State Government to begin an investigation. The same does not apply when the accused is caught red-handed. The Parliament on July 2018 had passed amendments to the prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
“We have written a letter to the higher authority under Prevention of Corruption Act (17A). As the case was registered under Section 13 of the PC Act, we need approval from the Government to begin an investigation into the matter. Once we receive an approval from the concerned authority the probe into the case will be initiated as per the law,” Commissioner of Gurugram police, KK Rao, said.
“If the complaint needs police protection we will provide him without any delay,” he said. However, the sources said, the case could be transferred to the State Crime Brach after a prior approval from the State Government.
The police on Saturday booked Vadra, Hooda, DLF and Gurugram-based Onkareshwar properties for their alleged involvement in a land scam worth Rs 5,000 crore in Gurugram in 2008.
The case was registered on the complaint of Surender Sharma, a resident of Tauru, alleging that a company belonging to Vadra's Skylight Hospitality cheated him along with others.
The FIR said Vadra's company Skylight Hospitality Pvt Ltd purchased 3.5 acres of land in Gurugram's Sector 83 from Onkareshwar Properties for Rs 7.50 crore in 2008, and later sold it to DLF for Rs 58 crore.
The Haryana government then allotted 350 acres of land to DLF in violation of rules.
After the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in Haryana, it set up a one-man commission of Justice S.N. Dhingra on May 14, 2015, to probe the land scam.
The commission probed the alleged irregularities in the grant of a licence by the Haryana Department of Town and Country Planning to some companies, including those of Robert Vadra, son-in-law of then Congress President Sonia Gandhi, in Sector 83 of Gurugram for developing commercial colonies.
Deals were allegedly inked for land in Sihi, Shikohpur, Kherki Daula and Sikanderpur Badha villages in Gurugram.
A case was registered under sections of 420(cheating), 120B (hatching conspiracy), 467 (forger), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and Section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, at the Kherki Daula Police Station.