Haryana Vigilance Bureau makes first arrest in the 2016 cash-for-CLU case

Deepender Deswal

Hisar, August 29

In the first arrest in the high profile cash-for-CLU case in Haryana, the State Vigilance Bureau has arrested Bhuvnesh Elawadi, who is head of Bajrang Ashram in Hansi town of the district. The accused was produced in the court of Duty Magistrate Abhishek Chaudhary, which sent him to judicial custody today. Earlier, he remained in police custody for interrogation for one day (Sunday).

The Vigilance Bureau had registered a case in January 2016 on the directions of the Haryana Lokayukta. The FIR includes the names of the Hansi BJP MLA and former chief parliamentary secretary Vinod Bhayana (Previously Congress MLA), former Congress MLAs Ram Niwas Ghorela and Naresh Selwal, and Jarnail Singh.

A vigilance official said this is the first arrest in this high-profile case. He informed that the accused provided some crucial information related to the Change of Land Use (CLU) as he had admitted arranging a meeting of some persons with the MLA. He was reportedly associated with Vinod Bhayana. Bhayana had won on the ticket of Kuldeep Bishnoi’s Haryana Janhit Congress in 2009 but later defected to the Congress. However, he joined the BJP in 2018 and is now BJP MLA from Hansi.

The vigilance official said the Punjab and Haryana High Court had stayed the arrest of the accused politicians including Bhayana, Ghodela, Selwal and Singh in the case. The official said though they were served notice under Section 160 of CrPC several times, they did not cooperate in the investigation and now the Vigilance had filed a petition in the High Court against the order of stay on their arrest.

The matter came to light when the INLD released a CD in September 2013 allegedly to expose the cash-for-CLU scam in Haryana during the then Congress government. The INLD made allegations against then minister in the Congress government Rao Narender Singh, CPS Vinod Bhayana, Ram Niwas Ghodela, MLA Jarnail Singh and Naresh Selwal and Ramkishan Fauji.

The complaints in this regard were also filed with Haryana Lokayukta which got the CDs and voice and photo samples checked from Hyderabad and Chandigarh FSL through State Vigilance.

After this, Lokayukta Justice Pritampal Singh (retd) recommended registration of a case against five former MLAs. The Lokayukta had asked the government to investigate the matter and also sought the action taken report from the government within three months. Later, the FIR was registered in January 2016.