Panchkula, Apr 3 (IANS): A special CBI court on Wednesday started proceedings to declare realtor Atul Bansal absconding in a multi-crore rupee Manesar land scam involving Haryana's former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Defence counsel S.P.S. Parmar informed the court that Bansal remained absent from the court despite notices and he demanded to start proceedings to declare him a proclaimed offender.

The court fixed May 31 as the next date of hearing.

Hooda, along with other accused, was present in the court in Panchkula, adjoining Chandigarh.

Alleging a multi-crore scam of prime land in Manesar in Haryana's realty goldmine district of Gurugram, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had in February last year filed a chargesheet in the land deal against Hooda, senior bureaucrats and others.

The chargesheet named 34 accused including senior bureaucrats Chhattar Singh, S.S. Dhillon and M.L. Tayal and the promoter of Gurgaon-based real estate company ABW Builders, Atul Bansal.

All the three officers were principal secretaries to the Chief Minister.

The CBI registered a case against the accused in September 2015 following allegations that private builders, in collusion with public servants of the Haryana government, had bought around 400 acres of land from farmers and landowners of Manesar, Naurangpur and Lakhnoula villages in Gurugram (then Gurgaon) district at throwaway prices.

At that time, the land was valued at around Rs 1,600 crore but it was bought by the builders for around Rs 100 crore.

The land was bought during August 2004 and August 2007. The Congress government in Haryana, led by Chief Minister Hooda, was in power from March 2005 to October 2014.

The CBI alleged that ABW Builders conspired with officers during the tenure of the previous Congress government to purchase the land.