{Land ‘fraud’ case} Company linked to AAP MP Arora caused loss to state exchequer: ED

A company linked to AAP Rajya Sabha member Sanjeev Arora and some other entities caused ‘loss’ to the state government and generated ‘huge’ proceeds of crime by misusing industrial lands for residential projects, the ED alleged on Wednesday.
The federal agency had raided the premises of Arora, also a businessman, that of a company promoted by him — Hampton Sky Reality (erstwhile Ritesh Properties Industries Limited or RPIL) — and others like Hemant Sood and Chander Shekhar Aggarwal on October 7 in Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Delhi and Gurugram. It also raided another company named Royal Industries Limited (RIL), and its directors Gurmeet Singh and Pardeep Kumar Aggarwal on the same day.
The ED spokesperson said it has seized several incriminating documents, mobile phones and other digital devices during the raids at 17 locations.
Arora, on the day the raids took place, had said he was a ‘law-abiding’ citizen and he was not sure about the reason for which the searches were conducted.
“I will cooperate fully with agencies and make sure all their queries are answered,” he had posted on X.
ED initiated investigations based on 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.
“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 spokesperson 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 RIL caused financial loss to the Punjab government and generated huge proceeds of crime (POC). Further investigation is under progress and those involved will be summoned for further questioning on the basis of seized documents,” an ED official added.
Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) national convener and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had said the ED action was a ‘politically motivated attack by the Modi government’.