The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Jalandhar, had on Friday evening arrested Secretary of the Indian Cooperative House Building Society, Ajay Sehgal, in a case of money laundering related to submission of fake consent letters for fraudulently obtaining Change of Land Use (CLU).
The ED has initiated investigation on the basis of FIR registered by the Punjab Police on the basis of complaint received from farmers whose consent was forged to obtain the CLU. The investigation has revealed that Sehgal had prepared fake consent letters with respect to 30.5 acres of land of 15 landowners.
On the basis of these fake consent letters, the accused persons were granted CLU for developing a real estate mega project namely ‘Suntec City’. These consent letters were prepared with forged signatures and thumb prints of the land owners for taking the CLU.
Earlier, ED carried out search operations on May 7 on eight premises linked to Indian Cooperative House Building Society and ABS Township Private Limited.
During the search proceedings cash amounting to Rs 21 lakhs was thrown from the balconey from under the balconey net which got scattered on the road below. The cash was later on recovered by the ED officials.
Besides residential plots, Ajay Sehgal also developed La Canela residential multi-storey complex and District 7 commercial complex based on the CLU obtained with fake consent letters. Further, ED investigation revealed that units in these projects were being sold even before registration and approval from RERA.
It was also revealed that Ajay Sehgal has not transferred plots for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) to Estate Officer, GMADA, till date. It was also revealed that contrary to the discussions in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, only partial CLU for 30 acres of land has been revoked to help Suntec City liquidate remaining stock by taking action under Section 85 of the Punjab Regional and Town Planning and Development Act instead of taking action under section 90 of the Act.
The ED is in the process to make some more arrests in the case and also to reach the top brass in GMADA and other public officials who have supported Ajay Sehgal in the fraud and received kickbacks in return.
The ED is conducting in-depth investigation which has revealed large scale irregularities in GMADA and Department of Town and Country Planning, in giving approvals to Suntec City and many such developers for illegal gratifications and enriched the real estate developers in Punjab at the cost of poor farmers and landowners.
