In September 2015, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case against former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and several bureaucrats and private real estate entities of causing wrongful loss of around Rs 1,500 crore to the land owners of four villages, including Manesar, in Gurugram. Haryana's anti corruption bureau and Enforcement Directorate are also probing the alleged land scam.

According to the CBI FIR, in August 2004, the Haryana government under former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda had issued a notification for acquisition of 912 acres of land for setting up an industrial model township in the villages.
According to the villagers, farmers sold their lands of around 350 acres at throwaway rates of Rs 20 to 25 lacs per acre to private entities in fear of losing their land to government at meagre rates. Following this, the state government issued another declaration for land acquisition facilitating private entities to acquire another 50 acres at a rate of "Rs 1.50 crore per acre. But later, it turned out that whole land acquisition process, was to facilitate realtors acquire land at cheaper rates. Subsequently, in 2007, the state government released the land from acquisition, however, by the time, thousands of farmers have allegedly gave away their lands to real estate entities. As per the ED's charge sheet, "most of the land parcels were purchased by ABWIL group which is controlled by Atul Bansal." In March 2018, the Supreme Court, in its order related to a special leave petition filed by the Manesar farmers, had reversed the scrapping of the acquisition and ruled that the ownership of the land now rested with Haryana State Industry and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC). The court has also directed the state government to provide rehabilitation to the landowners who gave their land in the same region. Presently, a trial is ongoing in a special CBI court regarding the alleged scam.