The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday conducted searches at the offices of Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) and that of principal secretary, housing and urban development, Vikas Garg, as part of a money-laundering probe against Delhi-based realty firm, Tirupati Infraprojects Pvt Ltd and its associated companies.
The searches and surveys were underway at the time of filing this report, with ED teams examining records related to land acquisition, property transactions and dealings between GMADA and private developers.
The agency had not issued any official statement on the searches, seizures or their outcome. No arrests had been reported so far.
There was no immediate reaction from GMADA and Garg. Repeated calls and text messages to GMADA chief administrator Sandeep Rishi seeking a response went unanswered.
An ED team reached the GMADA headquarters at around noon and sealed three floors of the office before examining records and questioning officials, including those from the land acquisition department, according to officials privy to the development. Senior officials, including those at the administrative level, were also questioned during the operation.
The agency simultaneously conducted searches and surveys at 26 premises across Delhi, Mohali, Chandigarh, Panchkula and Ludhiana under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The operation covered promoters, directors and associates of Tirupati Infraprojects, Remigate Buildestates (India) Private Limited, MB Infrabuild Private Limited, Mera Baba Reality Associates Private Limited and Mera Baba Infrastructure Private Limited.
{{/usCountry}}The agency simultaneously conducted searches and surveys at 26 premises across Delhi, Mohali, Chandigarh, Panchkula and Ludhiana under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The operation covered promoters, directors and associates of Tirupati Infraprojects, Remigate Buildestates (India) Private Limited, MB Infrabuild Private Limited, Mera Baba Reality Associates Private Limited and Mera Baba Infrastructure Private Limited.
{{/usCountry}}The ED was also conducting a survey at the Punjab department of housing and urban development office under Section 16 of the PMLA to collect records relating to the accused entities’ dealings with GMADA.
According to the officials, its investigation found that promoters of Tirupati Infraprojects, who also control Remigate Buildestates and MB Infrabuild, acquired two auctioned sites from GMADA and subsequently obtained financial relief on dues payable to the authority.
The ED has estimated the suspected gains to the companies and corresponding loss to the exchequer at more than ₹100 crore. It is also searching Tila Consultants & Contractors Private Limited, a consultancy firm that undertakes work for GMADA, which the agency suspects acted as an intermediary.
Tirupati Infraprojects is also under the CBI and ED’s scanner in cases related to an alleged ₹290-crore bank fraud involving the Radisson Blu hotel project at Paschim Vihar in New Delhi.
ED functioning as BJP’s political wing: AAP
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday accused the ED of stepping up its activities in Punjab ahead of the state assembly elections.
AAP’s state media in-charge Baltej Pannu alleged that the central agency had increasingly become a “political tool” of the BJP and linked its recent activity, including the raid on the GMADA office, to the approaching elections.
“The ED is active, which means that the election process is going well because these days, the ED is a wing of the BJP,” he alleged. Pannu said that the ED’s activity had become an indicator of elections. “Wherever elections are going to be held, the ED goes there first,” he said.