Bhupinder Singh Hooda's former security chief Desh Bandhu has offered to be whistleblower
A police officer who worked for Bhupinder Singh Hooda has written to the CBI offering to be a witness against the former Haryana Chief Minister, who was raided on the weekend in connection with an alleged scam involving land in Manesar, 45 km from Delhi.
Desh Bandhu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police rank officer who was in charge of Mr Hooda's security during his 10 years in power, wrote to the CBI the day the agency searched over 20 locations in connection with the land scam.
"I came to know about visitors, whose work got done, or did not get done at the Chief Minister's house. If the CBI wants I can give a statement, I know a lot about these details," Mr Desh Bandhu told NDTV.
The CBI is investigating the allotment of 400 acres of land in Manesar between 2004 and 2007, allegedly acquired at dirt-cheap prices from villagers who had been misled by a government notification about the rates. The land was allegedly sold to private builders. The CBI filed a case last year alleging that villagers were cheated out of Rs.1,500 crore in the deal.
Mr Hooda headed a Congress government in Haryana for 10 years till 2014.
In raids across Delhi, Chandigarh, Rohtak and Gurugram on Saturday, the CBI searched two of Mr Hooda's homes and also the homes and offices of officers who worked with him.
He has reportedly also been indicted for his alleged role in facilitating illegal land deals in a report by a former judge who studied controversial transactions in Haryana including one involving Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra.
The investigation was ordered by ML Khattar, who took over as Chief Minister of a BJP government after Mr Hooda's defeat.