Ex-principal secy to Hooda gets bail in assets case

Panchkula: A special CBI court in Panchkula on Thursday granted regular bail to retired IAS officer ML Tayal and his son, Kartik Tayal, in a disproportionate assets case being investigated by the CBI.The order was passed by the court of special judge (CBI) Rajeev Goyal, said defence counsel DS Chawla, who represented the father-son duo.Chawla submitted that the investigation was completed and the chargesheet (challan) was already filed. Since the investigating agency no longer required the custody of the accused, the court accepted the plea for regular bail.Tayal, a 1976-batch IAS officer, served as principal secretary to former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda and later as a member of the Competition Commission of India. He is facing corruption allegations linked to land dealings in Gurugram and was also named in the Manesar land acquisition scam.According to investigators, Tayal is accused of criminal conspiracy and cheating in connection with alleged irregularities in the release of acquired land to private builders in Manesar.The Enforcement Directorate (ED) earlier attached properties and bank balances worth Rs 14.06 crore in Gurugram linked to Tayal and his family members. The attached assets include houses, apartments and other properties suspected to be linked to proceeds of crime.The disproportionate assets case was registered by the CBI anti-corruption branch, Chandigarh, on Sept 4, 2017, under sections 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(e) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and section 109 of the Indian Penal Code. The case was based on a complaint filed by then CBI inspector Subash Chander, alleging that Tayal and his family members possessed assets disproportionate to their known sources of income.The matter is linked to an earlier case registered in 2015 at Manesar under various sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act against unknown public servants of the Haryana govt and private individuals. The Haryana govt later transferred the investigation to the CBI.A special CBI court already framed charges in the matter, and the trial is currently underway.