ED arrests Punjab real estate businessman in land fraud case

The Enforcement Directorate has arrested a real estate businessman in a money laundering investigation linked to submission of alleged fake consent letters for obtaining Change of Land Use (CLU) from the Punjab government, officials said on Saturday.

They said the accused, Ajay Sehgal, also Secretary of Indian Cooperative House Building Society (ICHBS), was taken into custody on Friday by the Jalandhar office of the central agency under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had raided Sehgal, premises linked to the Suntec City project (developed by ICHBS) and some others earlier this month.

The money laundering case stems from an FIR registered by Punjab Police based on a complaint received from farmers whose consent was ''forged'' to obtain the CLU.

According to the ED, Sehgal is alleged to have prepared ''fake'' consent letters with respect to 30.5 acres of land owned by 15 people.

''On the basis of these fake consent letters, the accused entity/person(s) were granted CLU for developing a real estate mega project named 'Suntec City'. These consent letters were prepared with forged signatures and thumbprints of the landowners for taking the CLU,'' the ED said.

Sehgal is alleged to have also developed 'La Canela', a residential multi-storey complex, and 'District 7', a commercial complex, based on the CLU obtained with the ''fake'' consent letters.

According to the ED, units in these projects were being sold even before registration with and approval from the Real Estate Regulatory Authorities (RERA).

The accused have made sales of more than Rs 200 crore from these illegal projects and Sehgal has not transferred plots for economically weaker sections to the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) till date, the ED said.

The officials said the role of some other senior officials and government authorities in the Department of Town and Country Planning and the GMADA is being investigated and that they were in the process of making some more arrests in the case.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)