Chandigarh, December 29: Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Saturday said that there is no substance in the land-grab case lodged against him and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra, and alleged that the case was being dragged out due to political motives of the current government.

His comments come in the wake of the Haryana Police getting the nod from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led state government to investigate the land-grab case. Gurugram Police Commissioner KK Rao confirmed the government's approval, saying that the investigation into the case is underway. "This is on the basis of a private complaint lodged at the behest of the government. There is no case, the government is behind this, it is only trying to defame us. We have not given an inch of land to anyone", Hooda told ANI. National Herald Case: CBI Files Chargesheet Against Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Motilal Vora and Associated Journals Limited.

When asked to comment on the timing of the government authorising the police to probe the incident as Lok Sabha election is a few months away only, Hooda said: "These are their political moves. They do these things to veil their own shortcomings". On September 1, an FIR was registered against Vadra and Hooda under the Prevention of Corruption Act and multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), in the alleged scam that dates back to 2008.

Besides Vadra and Hooda, DLF Gurugram and Onkareshwar Properties Gurugram are also named in the FIR. The FIR states that Vadra's company, Sky Light Hospitality, allegedly purchased land in various places in Gurugram and sold them at exorbitant prices. While Vadra had alleged that the FIR was filed to divert people's attention from real issues, Hooda claimed that it was registered out of "political malice".