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Updated: Aug 30, 2019 01:34 IST

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday said it has attached 14 industrial plots in Panchkula that were “fraudulently” allocated to persons “closely connected to” former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

The plots worth ~30.34 crore have been attached under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), it said in a statement.

The agency said, the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), under its ex-officio chairman Hooda, altered the criteria for allotment of industrial plots in Panchkula 18 days after the last date of receipt of applications, and also prices of properties were kept low from the market rates. “These 14 industrial plots were fraudulently allocated to the persons closely connected to the then Chief Minister of Haryana Bhupinder Singh Hooda...,” it said.

Since these fraudulently acquired plots are “proceeds of crime”, the same have been provisionally attached under PMLA, it said. “Investigations conducted by the agency reveal that 14 industrial plots were available with HUDA for allotment in 2011. It has come out during investigation that the prices fixed for the subject allotment were kept very low vis-a-vis market rate. The then prevalent collector rate was around 4-5 times the price fixed for allotment,” it said.