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HC appoints warrant officer after night call as Punjab govt challenges ED raids
Court intervenes in GMADA probe following allegations of official confinement, orders warrant officer to submit survey report by 2pm on Thursday.
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Chandigarh: Taking up an urgent habeas corpus petition filed late on Wednesday night by the Punjab government, the Punjab and Haryana high court appointed a warrant officer to inspect the ongoing Enforcement Directorate (ED) search operations at the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) headquarters and submit a status report by 2pm on Thursday.
The emergency hearing was conducted on a WhatsApp call around 10.45pm on Wednesday, running for over an hour via virtual mode from the camp office of justice Sanjay Vashist. The warrant officer, backed by directions to the Chandigarh DGP and Mohali SSP for support, initiated the survey at GMADA’s Sector 22 office around 2am on Thursday, concluding the inspection by 5am. The court explicitly directed that if any woman officer was found confined, she must be released immediately or adjusted at a convenient location.
Plea alleges illegal confinement
The petition, filed by the under-secretary of the department of home affairs, alleged that top administrative figures—including principal secretary (housing and urban development) Vikas Garg, GMADA chief administrator Sandeep Rishi, additional chief administrators Amarinder Singh Malhi and Rakesh Popli, estate officer Aman Gupta, and land acquisition collector Rohit Jindal—were being illegally detained by the ED.
According to the plea, the officials were restricted from returning home starting noon on September 22, with hundreds of CRPF personnel maintaining a tight vigil and blocking entry and exit. The state government demanded the de-sealing of premises, withdrawal of central security forces and installed CCTV cameras, and the quashing of ED’s survey authorisations. Furthermore, the petition sought directions for the agency to produce time-and-entry logs, return seized official records, computers, and mobile devices, preserve all audio-video recordings of the survey, and refrain from cloning or using data from confiscated devices.
Probe targets land deals, political links
The judicial intervention comes amid an expanded multi-city operation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The ED broadened its sweep by raiding the Sahnewal residence of Gurpreet Singh Saini—nephew of Punjab revenue minister Hardeep Singh Mundian—while searches at GMADA continued for a second straight day. Agency teams also broke open locks at a Sector 39 Chandigarh government bungalow previously used by former Delhi minister Satyendar Jain.
Spanning Delhi, Chandigarh, Panchkula, Mohali, and Ludhiana, the investigation targets promoters and associates of Tirupati Infraprojects Pvt Ltd and linked firms including Remigate Buildestates, MB Infrabuild, and Mera Baba Reality. Investigators are scrutinising illegal land acquisitions, changes in land use (CLUs), and compensation payments, with potential undue gains estimated to exceed ₹100 crore. Tirupati Infraprojects is separately under scrutiny for an alleged ₹290-crore bank fraud and funds linked to an IDFC First Bank fake fixed-deposit case diverted into Mohali real estate.
At GMADA, the investigation covers files detailing the acquisition of over 5,000 acres in Mohali and New Chandigarh, agricultural-to-commercial zoning shifts, shamlat (common) land regularisations, and decisions taken in the housing department since June 2025.
With nearly 150 mattresses brought into the complex and food delivered from outside as searches stretched past 24 hours, GMADA’s routine administrative operations and major initiatives like the Aerotropolis project came to a halt. The raids have triggered a fierce political battle, with the ruling Aam Aadmi Party accusing the Centre of using agency coercion to disrupt state administration and stall welfare schemes.
