AJL-National Herald Panchkula land grab scam case, allegedly against Bhupinder Singh Hooda currently in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, is under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED).

[1] This case pertains to Hooda's alleged role for misusing his position as then Chief Minister of Haryana to cause wrongful gains to the Associated Journals Limited (AJL) and corresponding loss to the Government of Haryana, by illegally allotting a government plot of land worth several crores rupees (billions) to AJL for INR 59 lakh (5.9 million).

[10][9] "[Bhupinder Singh Hooda] misused his position and caused wrongful gains to the AJL and corresponding loss to the state exchequer.

"In this AJL-National Herald Panchkula land grab scam, the Congress government gave the National Herald 3,500 square meters of plot number C-17 in Sector 6 of Panchkula in Haryana in 1982 [during Bhajan Lal's Indian National Congress rule] to publish a newspaper, but for ten years, there was no newspaper published from here.

[12] On 1 December 2018, CBI filed the chargesheet against Hooda, Moti Lal Vohra and AJL Ltd for the allotment of 3360 sqm plot in Sector 6 in 2005 in violation of the rules.

[14] In a big blow to the Gandhis, the Enforcement Directorate permanently attached properties worth Rs.64 crore in the National Herald land grab Case in May 2019.

[8][20] AJL published the National Herald newspaper and also owns real estate worth at ₹50 billion (US$580 million) in various cities including New Delhi, Lucknow, Bhopal, Mumbai, Indore, Patna and Panchkula.