The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a second supplementary chargesheet against some private builders and companies in connection with the Manesar land scam case, involving attachment of assets worth ₹108.79 crore.
Among those arraigned are Atul Bansal, his wife Sona Bansal, his company ABW Infrastructure Limited, Mahamaya Exports Private Limited, Shashikant Chaurasia, Dilip Lalwani, Varinder Uppal, Vijay Uppal, Viney Uppal, Ravinder Taneja, TDI Infrastructure Limited, Wisdom Realtors Private Limited and AB Rephcons Infrastructure Private Limited.
The ED’s money laundering probe is based on a case initially registered by the Gurugram police, which was taken over by the Central Bureau of Investigation in 2015.
As alleged, the private builders, in conspiracy with some Haryana government officials, acquired about 400 acres in and around Manesar at throwaway prices, causing a loss of about ₹1,500 crore to the owners in Manesar, Naurangpur and Lakhnoula villages.
In the FIR, it was alleged that the State government had first issued a notification under the Land Acquisition Act on August 27, 2004, and another one on August 25, 2005, to acquire 912 acres for setting up an industrial model township.
Fearing that they would not get desirable compensation, a large number of land owners sold their land at throwaway rates to private entities. These entities ultimately sold the land to various builders, who obtained construction licences and made huge profits in the process, as alleged.
“Most of the land parcels were purchased by ABWIL Group, which is controlled by Atul Bansal. After obtaining of licences, ABWIL sold the licensed/unlicensed land and licences to the private persons/developers and thereby made huge profits,” alleged the agency.
In February 2018, the CBI had filed a chargesheet against former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and 33 others, including then senior IAS officials Chattar Singh, M.L. Tayal and S.S. Dhillon, in its case. Mr. Bansal was also named.
