A high-stakes money laundering investigation into Punjab’s real estate sector took a dramatic turn on Thursday morning when occupants of a luxury high-rise in Mohali allegedly threw bags stuffed with cash from a ninth-floor window to evade Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials.
The agency conducted simultaneous searches at 12 locations across Chandigarh, Mohali, and Patiala as part of a probe targeting prominent builders and facilitators accused of obtaining change of land use (CLU) licences through fraudulent means, cheating investors, and defaulting on hundreds of crores in government fees.
Money rain at Western Towers
Residents of Western Towers in Kharar witnessed chaos during their morning walk as two bags containing about ₹20 lakh in ₹500 denominations were flung from Flat 906. The flat is reportedly linked to Nitin Gohal, an IT businessman who is currently under the scanner. While some bundles scattered across the society grounds, ED officials quickly secured the area and took possession of the cash.
Sources indicate that Gohal is being probed for allegedly acting as a mediator between defaulting builders and influential political figures to secure protection from regulatory action. Investigators believe he played a pivotal role in coordinating between developers and government officials to stall recovery proceedings and legal penalties.
Mann denies link to crackdown
Interacting with the media outside the Golden Temple, Amritsar, chief minister Bhagwant Mann was quick to distance his administration from the unfolding scandal. When questioned about the raids on an associate of his officer on special duty, Rajbir Ghuman, the CM maintained a firm stance of non-involvement. “We have no relation with these raids. The ED officials have come to raid the company of someone there… they (the ED) are doing their work,” Mann said.
The chief minister suggested the investigation might be related to “old matters” or independent business dealings, asserting that the state government remains untainted by the federal probe into the real estate sector.
GMADA licence fraud
The crackdown centres on a scam involving the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA). The ED is investigating several major entities, including the Suntec City project, Altus Builders, ABS Townships, Dhir Constructions, and Ajay Sehgal and Associates.
The ED investigation reveals a multi-layered financial fraud where developers allegedly obtained change of land use certificates through misrepresentation and collusion with officials to bypass urban planning norms. Once these disputed licences were secured, the firms launched infrastructure projects in Mohali district, particularly in New Chandigarh, to collect hundreds of crores from gullible investors.
Despite amassing these huge collections, the developers systematically defaulted on external development charges and licence fees owed to GMADA, resulting in losses to the state exchequer.
The federal agency is now tracing the proceeds of crime to determine if these diverted funds were moved through middlemen to provide political cover for the defaulting firms.
(With inputs by Surjit Singh in Amritsar)
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