Gurugram :
Having become the centre of media attention, Surender Sharma, complainant in the recent FIR against former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra, has gone into hiding.

A day after Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar lauded him for raising his voice against corruption without any vested interest, Sharma was nowhere to be found in his village, Rathiwas in Tawdu.

“He went out two days ago and has not returned. I do not know anything about the complaint. My son is an honest man who cannot stand corruption,” said his father Sohan Lal, former sarpanch of the village.

When contacted over phone, Sharma said, “I have no connection with the land in question and was never directly affected by the deal. Being a social activist, I could not take this corruption. When no action was taken even after the Dhingra report, I decided to go ahead and do my duty as a citizen. I am not scared, but do not want unnecessary sensation or media glare. Please do not call me up again.”

A pharmacy store owner and social activist, Sharma hit the headlines when following his complaint, an FIR was registered against Hooda and Vadra in connection with the decade-old Shikohpur village land deal between Vadra’s company and real estate firm DLF.

The case was registered at the Kherki Daula police station on Saturday. The DLF and Onkareshwar Properties were also named in the FIR.

Congress leader and former minister Aftab Ahmed termed the FIR as a conspiracy, claiming that the complaint had been filed at the behest of the BJP government as part of political vendetta.

“The affiliation of the complainant with the BJP is well known in Mewat. The complaint was filed at the behest of the BJP government to malign our image. Truth will prevail soon and Khattar should abstain from seeking cheap publicity,” he said.