The Enforcement Directorate on Friday registered a money laundering case against former Haryana Chief Minister and Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda and other officials of Associated Journals Limited, the publisher of National Herald. ANI reported that the investigative agency said that Hooda and others allocated a piece of land to AJL in Panchkula in 2005 under dubious terms.

The Haryana Vigilance Bureau had in May filed an FIR against the chairman of the Haryana Urban Development Authority – a post then held by Hooda – and several others for irregularities in the re-allotment of a plot to AJL. Although he was not named in the FIR, Hooda held the post when the re-allotment took place.

According to the complaint, AJL was allotted a 3,360 sq m plot in Sector 6, Panchkula, in 1982 for running its Hindi newspaper Navjeevan. However, the construction work was incomplete and its allotment was cancelled in 1992. The Hindu reported that AJL then appealed against the cancellation in 1992 and 1998, but was turned down both times. Hooda then re-allotted the same plot to AJL in 2005 at the 1982 rate against the advice of the government's counsel. This resulted in a loss of Rs 65 lakh to the state exchequer.

The FIR also states that the HUDA chairman, along with other government officials and employees of the company, colluded, and that officials used undue power to push the allotment through. Initially, AJL was given six months to complete its construction work but Hooda allegedly continued to grant it several extensions. It was finally completed in 2013. However, Navjeevan, for which the allotment was made, had shut down earlier.