New Delhi/Chandigarh, Sep 24 Enforcement Directorate on Thursday claimed that its searches in the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) case found that senior AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain were holding “unofficial” meetings with the officials of the Punjab government authority.
ED officials claimed that a house in Sector 39 of Chandigarh, allotted to Punjab AAP leader and Chairman of Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board Sunny Singh Ahluwalia, was raided as part of the September 22 action as it was being “used by” Jain and his OSD for meeting senior GMADA officials and discussing various issues including fresh auctions, acquisitions and determination of compensation.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) categorically denied these allegations saying such accusations were “completely false, baseless and politically motivated”.
“Neither Manish Sisodia nor Satyendar Jain has any role in GMADA’s projects, functioning or official matters. Their role in Punjab is purely political, and they have no involvement whatsoever in GMADA’s day-to-day functioning or projects,” the party said in a statement.
Both Jain and Sisodia have been investigated by the ED in other money laundering cases being probed in Delhi and these cases are being argued in the courts currently.
“The fact is that more than 50-hour illegal ED raid has yielded nothing, and now, having failed to find anything, the BJP is desperately trying to manufacture a political narrative by planting completely false stories.
“This is nothing but an attempt to create a controversy where none exists,” AAP said.
ED officials further claimed that they found chats in some seized phones (during the searches) and these indicate hawala payments purportedly made to people linked to certain politicians.
They claimed that the raids found that the reserve price for GMADA’s “unsold” land bank was “fraudulently” brought down before auction which may have resulted in a loss of about Rs 10,000 crore to the state exchequer with corresponding benefit to the alleged builders-politicians nexus in the state.
Officials added that its limited action of survey at the GMADA premises on Tuesday was later enlarged as a full search so that devices and documents could be seized.
The probe pertains to a real estate company named Tirupati Infraprojects, some linked entities and their directors and promoters who are accused of “acquiring” two prime auction sites at Mohali from GMADA and subsequently obtaining “substantial” financial relief regarding the dues payable to the Authority, ED officials had earlier said.
On Tuesday, the ED conducted survey and search operations at the offices of Punjab’s GMADA in Mohali; IAS officer and Principal Secretary, Housing and Urban Development, Vikas Garg; and a Delhi-based realty company as part of a money laundering investigation.
On Wednesday, ED sleuths searched a residence in Chandigarh where former Delhi minister Satyendar Jain often resides. Jain was not present when the ED reached the residence in Mohali Sector 39, and its officials broke open the locks to gain entry, sources said.
The agency also searched the residence of the nephew of Punjab minister Hardeep Singh Mundian in Sahnewal in Ludhiana on Wednesday.
The ED is examining alleged irregularities in land acquisition, change of land use permissions, property auctions and alleged financial concessions granted to private realtors, sources said.
The ED’s search and survey operation concluded on Thursday afternoon.
(PTI News)
