CHANDIGARH: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday ended its 36-hour search operation at the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) office in Mohali, intensifying the political confrontation between the AAP-led Punjab government and the BJP-led Centre ahead of the Assembly elections.
AAP workers staged a protest outside the GMADA office, raising slogans against the Union government and alleging that the ED action was aimed at pressuring the Punjab government before the polls. Police escorted the ED team from the GMADA office to the Chandigarh border after the searches ended.
Sources said the ED team left with more than 30 bags containing seized documents and hard disks of scanned records. The agency is learnt to have collected substantial material and is expected to summon officials in the coming days.
Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema accused the Centre of misusing central agencies ahead of elections.
“States where elections are due, the BJP-led central government sends the ED, CBI and the I-T Department by misusing them,” he alleged.
Cheema claimed similar action had taken place in Delhi and West Bengal before elections and alleged that opposition-ruled states were being targeted.
“Now that assembly elections are drawing closer in Punjab, ED raids have intensified across the state,” he said.
“Action is being taken at the homes of AAP leaders, workers and officials. These are not just raids. They raise serious questions about the misuse of central agencies. Punjab has never bowed to intimidation, and it never will,” he said.
The ED also searched the residence of Gurpreet Singh Saini, nephew of Punjab Housing Minister Hardeep Singh Mundian, in Sahnewal, Ludhiana, on Wednesday.
Mundian accused the BJP of using the ED to pressure him into joining the party.
“The ED sleuths reached Gurpreet’s residence yesterday at 11 am and continued to pressurise the women in the family to force me to join the BJP. The officials and even their drivers were in an inebriated condition and they harassed the women in my family. They did not find anything during the search operation and even gave this in writing before they left at 3 am,” Mundian alleged.
He also alleged that ED officials forcibly broke locks at offices and residences during the search operation.
The ED is investigating land acquisition, change in land use (CLU) approvals and other deals involving GMADA over the past few years. It is also examining Saini's financial transactions in connection with the investigation.
AAP questioned the timing of the searches and alleged that the ED had failed to recover anything substantial despite the prolonged operation.
The searches at GMADA focused on files related to alleged money laundering, land acquisition, CLU approvals and the authority's proposed Rs 15,000-crore loan through a merchant banker.
Sources said ED officials examined records of GMADA meetings related to land-use changes, acquisition of more than 5,000 acres in Mohali and New Chandigarh, amendments to master plans, regularisation of Shamlat land and alleged impersonation in sale deeds in villages including Boothgarh, Burana and Bazidpur.
Investigators are also examining the alleged waiver of more than Rs 100 crore in dues to realtor Remigate Buildestates for a food court project in Mohali. The waiver was approved during GMADA's 34th meeting last year when Chief Secretary KAP Sinha was chairman of the authority.
The role of land aggregator Tila Consultants and Contractors Private Limited, owned by Kirti Sadhu Bas, is also under scrutiny, along with records of land acquired by GMADA in Mohali and New Chandigarh.
Sources said the ED is also probing Tirupati Infraprojects, which controls Remigate Buildestates (India) Private Limited and MB Infrabuild Private Limited. The company has previously faced searches by the ED and CBI.
More than 100 ED officials conducted the operation at the GMADA office. Senior IAS and PCS officers, including Housing Secretary Vikas Garg, remained in the office overnight as officials recorded their statements and examined documents.
On Tuesday, ED teams assisted by CRPF personnel searched the GMADA office, sealed at least three floors, including the Chief Engineer's chamber, and seized mobile phones of senior officials and office computers.
The ED carried out search and survey operations at 27 locations across Delhi, Mohali, Chandigarh, Panchkula and Ludhiana as part of the investigation.