After missing first ED date, retd IAS officer Mohinder Singh summoned again on Oct 5

Singh has been named as an accused in an alleged fraud committed by a real estate firm in Noida, its promoters, directors and related entities, which duped investors of its ‘Lotus 300’ projects of an amount to the tune of ₹426 crore.

Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned retired IAS officer Mohinder Singh again on October 5 after the latter failed to turn up at the agency’s Lucknow office on Wednesday, officials said. The former top bureaucrat was asked to be present before officials for questioning in a money laundering case.

(File)

Singh has been named as an accused in an alleged fraud committed by a real estate firm in Noida, its promoters, directors and related entities, which duped investors of its ‘Lotus 300’ projects of an amount to the tune of ₹426 crore.

A senior ED official confirmed that the retired IAS officer had been summoned again on October 5 as he did not show up at the agency’s office on Wednesday or did not send any communication to officials regarding his absence.

The ED official said the agency had initiated an investigation based on the directions of the Allahabad high court in 2019 and based on multiple FIRs registered by Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in New Delhi against M/s Hacienda Projects Pvt Ltd, its director, officials and others. They said the firm was accused of siphoning off investors’ money and, ultimately, not providing them the promised flats between 2007 and 2012. Singh, the CEO of Noida Authority then, was one of the prominent IAS officers in the then BSP government.

On September 17 and 18, the ED recovered cash as well as diamond and gold jewellery, all of which had a combined worth of ₹42.56 crore, during searches conducted at 18 locations in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Chandigarh and Goa in connection with the case. The Chandigarh residence of the retired officer was one of the locations the ED searched.