PANCHKULA: The Panchkula police have booked Haryana Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, his son Deepinder and two other members of his family on the charges of causing harassment for dowry and criminal breach of trust.
The police registered an FIR against the Hooda family on Monday night on the basis of a complaint made by Dr Geeta Grewal, Deepinder’s wife, whose parents live in Sector 14 here.
Hooda’s daughter-in-law has alleged that her in-laws had demanded a Mercedes from her family after they had spent a sum of Rs 25 lakh on the wedding held on December 20, 2002, and also given an Esteem car. Others named in the FIR are Deepinder’s mother Asha and his aunt Saroj.
Geeta has complained that her husband had obtained a loan of Rs 15 lakh and she was being pressurised by the family to arrange the wherewithal to repay the loan. The complaint also mentions that Geeta was tormented by the Hooda family for not bringing enough dowry, commensurate with the family’s political standing. She has alleged that she was asked to furnish her property details and bank accounts on the pretext of getting her a visa to the US.
The complainant has also stated in her complaint that the Hooda family had organised a reception on December 29, 2003, and her mother-in-law did not pass on gifts worth lakhs given by about 30,000 guests to the couple.
Dr Geeta Grewal has alleged that her in-laws did not allow her to visit her parents’ house and would not let her meet them if they came over. She stated that she somehow managed to reach her father’s house in May 2003 and has been living there since then.
However, sources close to the Hooda family dismissed the complaint as politically motivated and an act of vendetta. They said the Hoodas had filed a case of extortion against Geeta’s father D P S Grewal, who has served with the Haryana Industries department, at the Lajpat Nagar police station in New Delhi in November 2003. They added that a divorce suit was also filed in a Rohtak court on December 4, 2003.
Ram Sharma 