CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court has made it clear that the special CBI judge has the power to summon an individual as an accused if it finds sufficient incriminating evidence against them even though they are not initially included as an accused by the investigating officer in a criminal case.
The HC passed these orders while upholding the order to summon Amit Katyal, managing director (MD) of Krrish Buildtech Pvt Ltd (now Brahma City Pvt Ltd), by the special CBI court in Panchkula. This is in connection with a land scam case in Gurgaon, in which former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is also an accused.
According to the HC, there is sufficient incriminating evidence requiring Katyal to face trial along with other co-accused. “Prima facie, this court found incriminating evidence against the petitioner, who, since the inception and till the end, played an active role in conspiracy with the other co-accused, not only to obtain LOI but also to execute the collaboration agreements, special power of attorney, general power of attorney, with the erstwhile landowners, and caused a huge financial loss to them,” the HC observed.
Justice Kuldeep Tiwari passed these orders while dismissing the petition filed by Amit Katyal. He challenged the order dated March 9, 2021, passed by the special CBI judge in Panchkula, summoning him as an additional accused to face trial in the case. The allegation against Katyal is that he, along with other accused, developed a plotted colony on 151.569 acres of land in sectors 60-63, Gurgaon, by releasing 130.256 acres of notified land from the acquisition proceedings.
The Scam Popularly known as the Ullahwas land scam, the case involves the government led by Bhupinder Singh Hooda, which released around 95% of the 1,417-acre land to private builders and granted licences for developing housing projects.
Out of the total 1,400 acres of land, only around 87 acres remained with the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA, now HSVP). This land was proposed for public utilities such as a hospital, power station, fire station, and police station, primarily benefiting private builders.
The acquired land was in villages of Badshapur, Behrampur, Nangli Umarpura, Tigra, Ullahwas, Kadarpur, Ghatta, and Medawas in Gurgaon.
In Nov 2017, the Supreme Court directed the CBI to register a case, and on Jan 23, 2019, the CBI booked Hooda and others, including bureaucrats, officers and builders. The trial of the case is pending before the special CBI court in Panchkula.
