The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is learnt to have turned its focus on the Department of Town and Country Planning, Punjab, for allegedly granting modified change of land use (CLU) permissions to certain private realtors in Mohali, including the controversial Suntec City project. The permissions were given despite serious complaints of forged documents and disputed land ownership.
This development comes a day after the ED conducted searches on the premises linked to two major real estate groups — Suntec City, promoted by the Indian Cooperative Housing Building Society, and Altus Space Builders Pvt Ltd — for alleged fraudulent CLU approvals, duping of homebuyers and landowners, and money laundering.
According to sources, the department, while hearing complaints from landowners who alleged that promoters had submitted fake consent letters, bearing forged signatures and thumb impressions, proceeded to issue modified CLU orders. In these orders, permission for certain contested land parcels was revoked.
ED officials are examining why the department, even after acknowledging in the modified CLU orders that the promoters had “failed to prove the validity of its title or consent” over the disputed land, did not initiate strict punitive action against them.
A fraud and forgery case was registered against Suntec City on November 19, 2022, at the Mullanpur police station (FIR No. 123) under Sections 120B, 420, 467, 468, 471 and 472 of the IPC, following complaints by affected landowners in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The licence of the society was later cancelled by GMADA.
Sources said the central agency was also probing the role of departmental officials and possible political patronage enjoyed by the builders in securing and protecting their interests.
While the department has registered cases against some promoters under the Punjab Apartment and Property Regulation Act (PAPRA), 1995, in similar instances, no such action was reportedly taken against the realtors currently under the ED scanner. Under the PAPRA, persons who forge NOCs or land documents can face imprisonment of three to seven years and fines ranging from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh.
During Thursday’s searches, ED teams recovered approximately Rs 1 crore in cash, including a dramatic incident where Rs 21 lakh was allegedly thrown from a balcony at one location and later recovered from the road below.
The agency has named Suresh Kumar Bajaj and Ajay Sehgal of the Indian Cooperative Housing Building Society, promoter Mohinder Singh of Altus Space Builders and middlemen Nitin Gohal and Pritpal Singh Dhindsa in the probe. Further investigation into the money laundering angle, irregularities in RERA approvals and the complicity of government officials is underway.
