Panchkula, July 10 -- A CBI court has dismissed applications filed by M/s Anglique International Limited, M/s Girnar Infrastructure Private Limited and an accused, Virendra Kumar Jain, seeking a stay on proceedings in the alleged Manesar land acquisition scam, involving former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and several former government officials. Proceedings against Hooda have already been stayed by the Supreme Court. According to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the FIR was registered in 2015 under Sections 120-B, 420 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The agency alleged that Hooda, then principal secretary to the chief minister ML Tayal, then additional principal secretary Chhatar Singh, former town and country planning director SS Dhillon, former district town planner (HQ) Jaswant Singh and others entered into a criminal conspiracy to deliberately allow land acquisition proceedings to lapse by not ensuring the award was passed within the statutory period. The CBI alleged that landowners were forced to sell their land at low prices under the threat of acquisition by the Haryana government. After the acquisition proceedings were abandoned, licences and change of land use (CLU) permissions were allegedly granted to private builders who were otherwise ineligible, resulting in wrongful loss to landowners and the state exchequer while conferring undue benefits on private builders and other accused. Following its investigation, the CBI filed a chargesheet on February 2, 2018, against 34 accused for offences under Sections 120-B read with 420 of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act. Naveen Rao and Virendra Kumar Jain were also chargesheeted under Section 471 of the IPC. In December 2020, five more accused were summoned to face trial. While proceedings against several accused were subsequently stayed by the Punjab and Haryana high court and later by the Supreme Court in separate petitions, charges were framed against 24 accused on January 2, 2026. The applicants argued that since proceedings have been stayed against some co-accused by the Supreme Court and high court, the trial against the remaining accused should also be stayed because the allegations of criminal conspiracy were interconnected. Jain contended that the allegations against him were linked to co-accused Rao, and proceedings against him has been stayed. Girnar Infrastructure claimed it had purchased land only through a subsequent independent transaction and had no role in coercing landowners, while Anglique International argued that similarly placed accused had already obtained interim protection from higher courts. The CBI opposed the applications, submitting that there was no blanket stay on the trial, and that interim protection granted to some accused did not halt proceedings against others. It also pointed out that charges had already been framed, witnesses had been examined, and the applications were aimed at delaying a case pending since 2015. In its July 7 order, the CBI court observed that the stays granted by the Supreme Court and the high court were only interim and applicable to the respective petitioners. The court held that the applicants could not claim parity solely on the basis of temporary orders while the cases remained pending before higher courts. It further noted that one of the charges was under the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 19(3)(c) of the Act expressly bars courts from staying proceedings under the statute. Holding that no ground existed to stay the trial, thecourt dismissed all three applications....