Manesar land scam: Enforcement Directorate charge sheet names 13 individuals, entities

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate has filed a second supplementary charge sheet against eight private builders and five entities in the Manesar land deal scam in Haryana, the agency said on Sunday.

Businessmen Atul Bansal, his wife Sona Bansal, Shashikant Chaurasia, Dilip Lalwani, Varinder Uppal, Vijay Uppal, Viney Uppal, and Ravinder Taneja have been named in the charge sheet.

ABW Infrastructure Ltd, Mahamaya Exports Pvt Ltd, TDI Infrastructure Ltd, Wisdom Realtors Pvt Ltd and AB Rephcons Infrastructure Pvt Ltd are the firms named in the charge sheet in the case filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. This case involves attachment of properties worth Rs 108.79 crore.

Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is under probe in the case. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has already named him in its charge sheet filed in 2018.

The ED initiated money laundering investigations based on a case registered by the Haryana Police and thereafter investigations done by CBI against unknown public servants of Haryana government and unidentified private persons.

In the FIR, it was alleged that the Haryana government had issued a notification on August 25, 2005 for acquisition of land measuring about 912 acres for setting up an Industrial Model Township in villages Manesar, Naurangpur, and Lakhnoula in Gurgaon district -- now known as Gurugram -- bordering the national capital.

A large number of landowners, in haste, had to sell about 400 acres at throwaway rates to private builders which caused a wrongful loss of Rs 1,500 crore to the landowners of these village and corresponding wrongful gains to the builders.

Investigation revealed that builders and private entities bought land from the farmers and landholders on meagre prices by playing up fears of acquisition, said an ED statement.

"The farmers and landholders under different fears sold their land to such private entities which ultimately sold the land to various builders who obtained licences and earned handsome profits in a fraudulent manner."

Investigation further revealed that most land was purchased by ABWIL Group controlled by Atul Bansal, said the ED statement, adding that the company later sold the licensed and unlicensed land and licences to private persons and developers to make huge profits. "Further investigation in this case is in progress," the ED said.