IAS officer Ashok Khemka asks who got punished for scams that became major election issue in 2014

Chandigarh: Senior IAS officer Ashok Khemka on Saturday asked who got punished for the scams that became a major election plank in 2014, wondering if corruption allegations would remain limited to electoral issues.

Khemka, as Director-General of Land Consolidation and Land Records-cum-Inspector-General of Registration in 2012, had cancelled the mutation of the 3.5-acre land deal between realty major DLF and Skylight Hospitality, a company linked to Congress leader Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra.

The BJP had alleged irregularities in land deals during the then Congress regime in Haryana and made it a major electoral issue in the Lok Sabha polls and the state assembly elections in 2014.

In a cryptic tweet in Hindi, Khemka asked on Saturday, "Will scams be limited to electoral issues only? In nine years, who got punished for the scams that became a major election issue in 2014." 

"Crores were spent on commissions but they failed. Now, will the police investigation also meet the same fate? Those who should have been in the dock are the rulers," the 1991-batch Haryana-cadre IAS officer tweeted without elaborating on the details.

Khemka's tweet comes days after Haryana revenue officials said no rules were broken in the transfer of the land parcel to DLF by Skylight Hospitality. However, the Haryana government on Friday claimed that no clean chit was given to anyone in the matter.

The investigation was linked to an FIR registered against Congress leader and former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Vadra and some others in September 2018 in Gurugram.

The information was placed in an affidavit before Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday, submitted by an Inspector General of Police-rank officer.

A Haryana government statement on Friday claimed, "No clean chit has been given to anyone involved in the transfer of land between M/s Skylight Hospitality and M/s DLF Universal Limited." It said the case remains under active investigation.

The Haryana Police is probing into records of financial transactions that took place during the deal.

The BJP had alleged irregularities in the land deal that took place during the Congress regime in the state. The Congress, Hooda and Vadra have always denied any wrongdoing.