A special court in Panchkula on Friday (April 3, 2026) discharged former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and the Associated Journals Limited (AJL) in a money laundering case linked to the re-allotment of a plot in Panchkula, after closing the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) case against them.
The order follows a February 25 ruling by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which set aside a 2021 order that had framed charges against Mr. Hooda and others in the case. Congress veteran Mr. Hooda appeared in person during the proceedings.
Special Judge under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Rajeev Goyal, closed the ED's complaint, as Mr. Hooda and the AJL, the publisher of National Herald, had already been discharged in the main case pursued by the CBI, Mr. Hooda's counsel, S.P.S. Parmar told reporters here.
“The court closed the ED case as the predicate had already been decided by the Punjab and Haryana High Court,” Mr. Parmar said. The High Court had set aside criminal charges against Mr. Hooda and the AJL in connection with the re-allotment of a plot in Panchkula.
The High Court Bench of Justice Tribhuvan Dahiya set aside the April 2021 order of a special CBI court that framed charges against the accused, and dismissed their discharge pleas. The court had observed that the material placed on record did not even prima facie establish the essential ingredients of the alleged offences against the petitioners.
