New Delhi:  In a major development in the National Herald case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has lodged a charge sheet in opposition to Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, former Congress leader Motilal Hooda and Associated Journals Ltd (AJL), publisher of National Herald newspaper, in special CBI court in Panchkula as Times now reported.

The grand old Congress party leaders have been accused in the case pertaining to the alleged unlawful re-allotment of land to AJL, in Panchkula in 2005. It is noted that AJL is owned by Young India. It  is headed by the Congress' Gandhi family.  The AJL was set up by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, which publishes the National Herald newspaper.

The investigating agency filed the chargesheet in the court of special CBI judge Jagdeep Singh under sections 120 B and 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the applicable sections of prevention of corruption act, as The Times of India reported.

Hooda was also the chairman of Haryana Urban Development Corporation (HUDA). In the chargesheet, the CBI has claimed that he had "misused his official position" to allocate a piece of land to AJL in 2005, even after its allotment had been called off in 1992.

In April last year, the CBI lodged an FIR against Hooda and others of the alleged unlawful re-allotment of the land to AJL. The CBI also claimed that due to the violation of rules in the case resulted in a loss of Rs 62 lakhs to the Haryana administration.

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