India, April 3 -- A special CBI court in Panchkula on Friday formally discharged former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Associated Journals Limited (AJL) from a 2005 prime institutional plot re-allotment case.

Following the discharge in the primary CBI case, special judge Rajeev Goyal also closed the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) money-laundering complaint against the accused.

Hooda, 78, appeared in person during the proceedings, which effectively terminate a decade of litigation involving allegations of corruption, cheating, and criminal conspiracy.

The court's decision follows a February 25 ruling by the Punjab and Haryana high court, which set aside a 2021 order that had originally framed charges against the petiti...