The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered a case against former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in connection with alleged irregularities in the land allotted to Associated Journals Limited in Panchkula, The Indian Express reported on Thursday. In its First Information Report, the investigating agency has alleged that AJL was allotted a plot in 1982 but construction did not start till 1992. The Haryana Urban Development Authority, under instructions from the Bansi Lal government, had taken back the plot.

The same plot was re-allotted to AJL in 2005, at the original rates, after the Congress came to power in the state. This had been done under the supervision of Hooda who was then the Chairman of the Haryana Urban Development Authority, claimed the CBI. In 2016, the Haryana State Vigilance Bureau had registered a case of cheating and corruption against Hooda and four others.

The AJL group, which used to publish The National Herald, is reportedly controlled by senior Congress leaders.