Panchkula, April 3
The Special CBI court here on Wednesday started proceedings for declaring absconding realtor Atul Bansal in the Manesar land scam as a proclaimed offender. Defence counsel SPS Parmar said as Bansal remained absent the court had started proceedings to declare him a proclaimed offender. The court has fixed May 31 as the next date of hearing.Former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, along with the other accused, was present in the court. ccording to the ED, a notification to acquire 912 acres and seven marlas at Manesar, Lakhnaula and Naurangpur villages of Gurugram district was issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act in August 2004.Fearing acquisition by the government at meagre rates, landowners, in haste, sold the land at “throwaway” prices–between Rs 20 lakh and Rs 25 lakh per acre–to builders.Despite knowing that the state government had expressed its willingness to acquire the land, Bansal, MD, ABWIL, had bought 239 acres. He started buying land in December 2005. In December 2006, he applied for a licence for 190 acres by mentioning ABWIL and its 15 group companies as applicants. He, however, got six licences.The ED said the ABWIL and its associate companies got three licences for Rs 7.02 crore and spent Rs 11.82 crore on the acquisition. They sold the licences to other firms for Rs 188.91 crore.The profit was Rs 169.25 crore, which later turned out to be “proceeds of crime” as these had been earned after acquiring the notified land and getting licences in connivance with public servants, the ED said.
