ED grills GLADA chief in PMLA probe linked to Arora’s firms

The agency had summoned Hira to its Jalandhar-based regional office on Tuesday, while asking him to bring official records and documents related to Ritesh Properties and Industries Ltd (RPIL), now known as Hampton Sky Realty Limited

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday questioned chief administrator of the Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA) Vikas Hira for nearly nine hours in a money laundering investigation related to 40 acres of land allotted to companies linked to jailed Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) minister Sanjeev Arora.

Earlier, Hira appeared before the central agency in the same matter on August 19.

Industrialist-turned-politician Arora, who held the industries, commerce and local bodies portfolios, was arrested by the ED in a money laundering case linked to an alleged ₹100-crore GST fraud, including sale of mobile phones, on May 9. He is currently in judicial custody.

An ED official privy to the investigation said the GLADA official was asked about how Arora’s company allegedly bypassed all set regulations to convert a dedicated industrialist plot into the residential community.

“An official concerned has been asked to present more documents in a week related to the permissions were given by the development authority, the process of acquiring change of land use for the said plot and the cross verification of the documents provided by the real estate companies at the time of altering industrial space into the residential commodity,” the official said.

According to information, the summons were issued under Sections 50(2) and 50(3) of the PMLA under which the agency has the authority to summon individuals, seek documents and examine persons whose attendance or information may be considered necessary for an investigation.

Earlier, the ED summoned officials of the Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation (PSIEC) to present all records, including the permissions given to the Hampton Sky Reality, land records of the allotted chunk of prime land on Chandigarh-Ludhiana road and its utilisation details submitted by the allottee to the department.

On October 7, 2024, the agency searched 17 premises linked to Arora and his company, RPIL, and Royal Industries Limited (RIL) and its directors, and seized several incriminating documents, mobile phones and other digital devices. These included the luxury residential project ‘Hampton Homes’ and Hampton Court Business Park on Chandigarh Road.

The ED initiated investigations stems from a criminal complaint registered in a Ludhiana court, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), against RPIL and an FIR registered by Ludhiana Police against RIL.

The ED said in the preliminary investigation, it has found that the company (RPIL) linked to Arora and some other entities caused ‘loss’ to the state government and generated ‘huge’ proceeds of crime by misusing industrial land spanning in 40 acres for residential projects.

“During the investigation, it was found that with an objective to promote industries in the state of Punjab both the entities RPIL and RIL were allotted Industrial lands by the Punjab government with certain conditions. It was found that the RIL had sold the allotted industrial land wrongfully by breaching the conditions of allotment,” the ED said.

ED further added that the investigation further revealed that Hampton Sky Reality alienated the land use without permission of the Punjab government and later on developed a residential project and a business park on the said land by concealing material facts at the time of seeking permission from Punjab government for the project.

“By all these wrongful activities, the RPIL and its entities caused financial loss to the Punjab government and generated huge proceeds of crime (POC),” he said.

- Navrajdeep Singh is a Principal Correspondent. Having an association with this publication for past 14 years, he covers Doaba region including Jalandhar, Kapurthala, SBS Nagar and Hoshiarpur districts. He covers politics, NRIs, agriculture, crime, local bodies, health and education in the these districts of Punjab.Read More