ED arrests Ajay Sehgal, Secretary, Indian Cooperative House Building Society, in a money laundering case. He allegedly used fake consent letters from farmers to obtain Change of Land Use for the Suntec City project, making over Rs 200 crore.
Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Jalandhar, has arrested Ajay Sehgal, Secretary, Indian Cooperative House Building Society, in a money laundering case related to submission of fake consent letters for fraudulently obtaining Change of Land Use (CLU) for the Suntec City project from the Government of Punjab. The ED initiated an investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by the Punjab Police on the basis of a complaint received from farmers whose consent was forged to obtain the Change of Land Use. The arrest took place on Friday.
Details of the Fraud
ED investigation revealed that Ajay Sehgal of the Indian Cooperative Housing Building Society 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 entity/person(s) were granted Change of Land Use (CLU) for developing a Real Estate Mega Project, namely 'Suntec City'. These consent letters were prepared with forged signatures and thumbprints of the landowners for taking the CLU.
Dramatic Cash Recovery During Raid
Earlier, ED carried out search operations on May 7 on eight premises linked to the Indian Cooperative House Building Society and ABS Township Private Limited. During the search proceedings, a cash amounting to Rs 21 lakhs was thrown from the balcony of liaison businessman Nitin Gohel from under the balcony net, which got scattered on the road below. The cash was later recovered by the ED officials
Scope of Illegal Activities Widens
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. The accused have made sales of more than Rs 200 crores from these illegal, unauthorised projects.
Alleged Collusion and Systemic Irregularities
It was also revealed that Ajay Sehgal has not transferred plots for Economically Weaker Sections to the Estate Officer, Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) to date. It was also revealed that, contrary to the discussions in the High Court, only a partial CLU for 30 acres of land has been revoked to help Suntec City liquidate remaining stock by taking action under Section 85 of the Punjab Regional and Town Planning and Development Act instead of taking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 said Act.
The role of other senior officials and government authorities in DTCP and GMADA is being investigated. ED is in the process of making some more arrests in the case and also reaching the top brass in GMADA and other public officials who have supported Ajay Sehgal in the fraud and received kickbacks in return.
ED is conducting an in-depth investigation, which has revealed large-scale irregularities in GMADA and the 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. (ANI)
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