Rahul and Sonia Gandhi

New Delhi: The crackdown in the National Herald case intensified on Monday as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) attached the Herald plot in Haryana’s Panchkula, citing two alleged irregularities in the allotment of the plot for the National Herald office. The case pertains to the alleged illegal re-allotment of land to Associated Journals Ltd (AJL), publisher of National Herald newspaper, in Panchkula in 2005. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had founded the AJL, which publishes the National Herald.

The ED has claimed that the cancelled plot was re-allotted to the AJL without calling for a fresh bid and that the re-allotment was done at 1982 rates. The AJL is owned by Young India, which is controlled by Congress’ Gandhi family and a few senior party leaders. The attachment of the property by the ED has been done under Section 5 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

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In a statement, the EC said, “Since the value of plot fraudulently allotted Associated Journals Ltd. (AJL) has represented proceeds of crime, the ED has attached plot under PMLA Act by passing an order under section 5 of PMLA Act on 01.12.2018.”

On Saturday, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a chargesheet against former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, former Congress leader Motilal Vohra and AJL in connection with the case. The chargesheet was filed in the court of Special CBI judge Jagdeep Singh 120 B and 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the relevant sections of prevention of corruption act.

The probe agency has claimed that Hooda, who was also the chairman of Haryana Urban Development Corporation (HUDA) at the time of purported re-allotment of the land, had "misused his official position" to allot the piece of land to AJL in 2005, despite the cancellation of the plot's allotment in 1992. As per the FIR filed by CBI against Hooda and others in connection with the case, the violation of rules regarding the allotment of the land had cost a loss to the exchequer and wrongful enrichment of the company.

