Chandigarh, July 22, 2026
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said it has filed a prosecution complaint in the Special Court of Mohali against coloniser Ajay Sehgal for his involvement in laundering proceeds of crime generated by obtaining change of land use (CLU) based on fake consent letters.
The ED initiated an investigation based on a first information report (FIR) registered by Punjab Police against Sehgal and others.
Investigation conducted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) of 2002 revealed that Sehgal, Secretary of Indian Cooperative House Building Society Ltd, submitted fake consent letters to Punjab’s Department of Town and Country Planning for obtaining CLU of 108.58 acres of agricultural land to residential and commercial plots in Project ‘SUNTEC CITY’.
Based on the CLU obtained from submitting forged consent letters, a licence was issued by Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) for development of the project. He also obtained Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA) registration for the project based on fake consent letters, said the ED.
Further, it was revealed that he failed to transfer the land reserved for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) to the Estate Officer of GMADA as per licence conditions. Moreover, he started selling units in the project even before obtaining RERA registration and was giving possession to land owners without obtaining completion certificate (either partial or full) from GMADA.
It was also revealed during investigation that the building plan and CLU were illegally approved without a solid waste management area, which is required as per Building Plan Rule 3.12.2 (Internal Development Works).
Investigation under the PMLA also revealed that an agreement was executed between Indian Cooperative House Building Society Ltd and ABS Townships Private Ltd, that all the development rights and sale rights of the project were handed over to ABS Township, whose directors were brothers of Sehgal, Sanjay Sehgal and Anil Sehgal.
Thereafter, ABS Township registered La Canela Phase I and District VII with RERA and generated proceeds of crime by selling the units in the projects. It was also revealed that ABS Township sold residential units in La Canela Phase II without taking any RERA approval.
Investigation revealed that GMADA started receiving complaints regarding the use of forged consent letters in 2020. However, no action was taken against the accused, allowing them to generate proceeds of crime by selling residential and commercial units in a project whose approval was obtained illegally.
Instead, ABS Township was again granted CLU of 14.59 acres, altering the layout of the originally approved project without following the due procedure as per Section 14 of the RERA Act.
Even subsequently, only partial CLU was revoked under Section 85 of the Punjab Regional and Town Planning and Development Act, allowing the accused to further generate proceeds of crime, which is under investigation.
The ED investigation quantified the proceeds of crime at approximately Rs 348 crore, which comprises sales of Rs 212.58 crore and unsold inventory of Rs 135.41 crore.
The investigation has established that the accused knowingly generated, acquired, possessed, concealed and utilised proceeds of crime arising out of a scheduled offence of obtaining the CLU based on fake consent letters, illegal approval and fraudulent registration under the RERA Act.(Agency)
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