In a first response to Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) three letters pressing for a first information report (FIR) for alleged interference into transfers and postings of officials, government approvals for key land deals and issuing of arms licences, the Punjab government on Tuesday said no case will be registered unless the federal agency provides “clear, complete and usable evidence” to the state police.
“The FIR cannot be registered because the particulars they (ED) have shared are not legible. If there is evidence, present it. Let the investigation happen properly,” said industries and commerce minister Aman Arora while talking to reporters here.
Arora, who is also Aam Aadmi Party’s Punjab chief, accused the BJP-led Centre of using central agencies to target the AAP government and its leaders.
The ED has been pushing registration of an FIR against private individual Nitin Gohal and others. The agency’s investigation is linked to alleged money laundering involving purported fake consent letters submitted to obtain change of land use (CLU) approval in a housing society related matter. The agency conducted searches in May at the premises of Ajay Sehgal, secretary of the Indian Cooperative House Building Society, and others associated with the Suntec City Project.
Relevant material already provided: ED
{{/usCountry}}Relevant material already provided: ED
{{/usCountry}}The agency, in its latest communication on August 31, had turned down the request of Punjab Police for more records in the matter, saying all relevant material has already been sent. It also questioned the delay in FIR, maintaining that registration is mandatory when information discloses the commission of a cognisable offence.
Earlier, in its July 30 letter to Punjab director general of police Gaurav Yadav, followed by a reminder on August 7, the ED had alleged that Gohal acted as an intermediary between interested persons and Rajbir Ghuman, an officer on special duty to chief minister Bhagwant Mann. The agency alleged that Gohal, in coordination with associates, including Ghuman, Bir Devinder and Jitin Gohal, alias Raja, collected proceeds of crime worth crores in cash, land and kind in exchange for facilitating transfers, postings, government approvals and other favours.
The agency’s third letter came in response to a communication from the Punjab Police’s Bureau of Investigation (BoI) dated August 28, in which the state had sought deputation of an authorised ED officer along with complete case records, including original electronic data, chain-of-custody documents and statements, before registering an FIR.
Probe approvals granted by previous regimes: Arora
Arora claimed the ED was selectively leaking its communications to malign the AAP leadership. He alleged that the BJP’s larger aim is to “create chaos, intimidate political leadership and keep government officers under pressure so that the elected government doesn’t function effectively”. “The repeated communications sent by the ED to the Punjab DGP, including its latest letter seeking the registration of an FIR under Section 66(2) of the PMLA, reflect the desperation and frustration of the BJP-led Centre,” said Arora.
The minister recalled Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s criticism of the CBI during his tenure as Gujarat’s chief minister, when he described the agency as a “parrot” of the central government.
He also alleged that the ED had been referring to different AAP leaders in connection with the matter, including himself, cabinet colleagues Lal Chand Kataruchak and Sanjeev Arora. According to him, the names were being circulated without any substantive evidence establishing wrongdoing.
Arora claimed that the ED had been asked to send an authorised officer with the relevant material on September 1, but no officer appeared. He said the state police required complete and usable evidence to conduct a proper investigation.
Arora also sought to challenge the allegations by presenting the chronology of CLU approvals relating to the Altus project. He said six approvals were granted between November 17, 2011, and March 7, 2022, during the tenure of previous Congress and Akali-BJP governments, and claimed that no CLU was approved during the AAP government’s tenure.
He further said the project’s layout plans had undergone several changes between 2011 and 2025, with many of the changes taking place under previous governments.
Demanding an impartial investigation, Arora said the ED should examine the entire period during which the relevant approvals and policy decisions were taken instead of selectively focusing on the present government. He called for scrutiny of those who held the housing portfolio since 2012, naming former chief ministers Sukhbir Singh Badal and Captain Amarinder Singh, besides former ministers Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria.
Arora also rejected attempts to link him with his friend advocate Gaurav Dhir, describing their relationship as a longstanding friendship unrelated to any alleged wrongdoing.