Chandigarh/Amritsar
A high-stakes investigation into money laundering in Punjab’s real estate sector took a dramatic turn on Thursday morning when occupants of a luxury high-rise building in Mohali threw bags full of cash from the ninth floor window to evade Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials.
The agency conducted simultaneous searches at 12 locations across Chandigarh, Mohali and Patiala as part of a probe targeting prominent builders and facilitators accused of obtaining change of land use (CLU) licenses through fraudulent means, cheating investors, and defaulting on hundreds of crores of government fees.
Residents of the Western Towers in the city of Kharar witnessed a state of chaos during their morning walk, as two bags containing approximately $20 thousand in $500 denominations were thrown out of apartment 906. The apartment is said to be linked to an IT businessman who is currently undergoing ED examination. While some packages were scattered across the association’s grounds, emergency department officials quickly secured the area and seized the funds.
Sources indicate that the businessman is under investigation for allegedly acting as a mediator between troubled construction companies and influential political figures. Investigators believe he played a pivotal role in coordinating between developers and government officials to stop recovery actions and legal penalties.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was quick to distance himself from the case as raids also targeted an alleged OSD associate in the CM’s office.
“We have nothing to do with these raids,” Mann told reporters outside the Golden Temple. “Directorate officials came to raid someone’s company there… They (the Executive Directorate) are doing their job.”
Mann said the investigation may be related to “old matters” or independent business dealings, stressing that the state government is not connected to the federal investigation.
According to officials, the ED raids are linked to a case related to the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA).
They said the ED investigation revealed a multi-layered financial fraud where developers allegedly obtained land use change certificates through misrepresentation and colluded with officials to bypass urban planning norms. Once these licenses were obtained, the companies launched infrastructure projects in the Mohali region, especially in New Chandigarh, to raise hundreds of crores from gullible investors, they added.
Despite collecting these huge collections, developers have systematically defaulted on offshore development fees and license fees owed to GMADA, resulting in losses to the state exchequer.
The federal agency is now tracking the proceeds of crime to determine whether these transferred funds were moved through intermediaries to provide political cover for struggling companies.
(With contributions from Surjit Singh in Amritsar)
