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PSIEC plot allotment probe: ED searches continue for second day
The ED case stems from an FIR registered by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau on March 8, 2024, against six top officials of the PSIEC for allegedly misusing their official positions and wrongly allotting expensive industrial plots to their relatives, friends and known persons
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) continued its raids at multiple locations on the second consecutive day in connection with a money laundering probe involving the illegal industrial plot allotment by the Punjab Small Industries & Export Corporation (PSIEC) that resulted in an ₹8.73-crore loss to the state.
Though the federal agency had yet to release any formal information, the officials privy to the probe said in continuation with Tuesday’s searches, the agency widened the scope of probe, involving more private individuals and PSIEC officials, who were under scanner for fraudulent allotment of industrial plots.
“The details of the outcome of the searches carried under Section 17 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act will be shared later,” an official said.
The ED case stems from an FIR registered by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) on March 8, 2024, against six top officials of the PSIEC for allegedly misusing their official positions and wrongly allotting expensive industrial plots to their relatives, friends and known persons.
The VB arrested PSIEC’s chief general manager (Estates) SP Singh and general manager (Personnel) Jaswinder Singh Randhawa on March 8, 2024, while booking estate officer Amarjeet Singh Kahlon, senior assistant Vijay Gupta, consultant Darshan Garg and sub-divisional engineer (SDE) Savtej Singh.
On Tuesday, the raids were conducted on the premises of Sukhdeep Singh, executive director of the PSIEC; Surendra Pal Singh, former chief general manager; Jaswinder Singh Randhawa, former general manager; Savtej Singh, former SDE, and other officials of PSIEC, property dealers and benamidars (proxies).
The case against them was registered under Sections 420 (cheating), 409 (criminal breach of trust), 467 (forgery of valuable security, etc), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, and Sections 7 (2), 8, 12 and 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act at the VB police station in Mohali.
