ED raids businessman it claims is Punjab AAP chief’s associate

The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday carried out searches in a land scam and money laundering case at premises linked to a businessman whom the central agency claimed was an associate of Aam Aadmi Party’s Punjab chief Aman Arora, The Indian Express reported.

The central agency has not made any allegations against Arora.

It raided several locations in Chandigarh and Mohali under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

Locations linked to the Suntec City project, developed by the Indian Cooperative Housing Building Society, along with premises linked to its promoter Ajay Sehgal, ABS Townships, Altus Space Builders, Dhir Constructions and their associates were searched.

The agency alleged that one of the builders whose premises were searched, Gaurav Dhir of Dhir Constructions, was a “close associate” of Arora, who is also a state minister.

The two real estate groups had allegedly fraudulently obtained Change of Land Use permissions.

The agency alleged that Dhir, through his entity Suncity Projects, purchased a project from Altus Space Builders Private Limited for Rs 130 crore by undervaluing it by more than Rs 170 crore in order to facilitate money laundering, India Today reported.

It also named two alleged middlemen, Nitin Gohal and Pritpal Singh Dhindsa, claiming that they helped secure “political patronage and protection”, the news outlet reported.

“Several incriminating documents have been recovered suggesting interference of these private...

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