Lucknow. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized diamonds, jewellery and cash worth Rs 42.56 crore during raids at the premises of former IAS officer Mohinder Singh and the directors of Hacienda Project Private Limited Company (HPPL) and recovered documents of a large number of properties. This includes cash worth Rs 85 lakh.
Information about six bank lockers of the company directors has also been received. Information about the seized properties was shared on Friday after searches were conducted at 12 locations in Meerut, Delhi, Chandigarh and Goa on Tuesday and Wednesday.
A diamond worth Rs 5.26 crore has been recovered from the Chandigarh residence of 1978 batch IAS officer Mohinder Singh. Many documents related to benami properties have also been found.
Mohinder Singh, former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Noida Authority, was counted among the influential officers during the BSP regime. He retired on July 31, 2012.
Big game in providing land in Noida
ED’s investigation found that HPPL operators had played a big game in providing land in Noida. The company operators were benefited by bypassing the rules. When his role came to light in the investigation, the former IAS officer’s Chandigarh residence was searched.
According to sources, 35 diamond certificates have also been recovered from his residence. The investigating agency suspects that his wife went to the US recently with these diamonds worth crores of rupees. All the diamonds were bought from Delhi’s PC Jewelers.
ED has recovered diamond jewellery worth Rs 7.1 crore from the house of Meerut’s Sharda Exports director Ashish Gupta and diamond and gold jewellery worth about Rs 25 crore from Aditya Gupta’s house.
Investigation based on documents
According to ED, HPPL, Cloud Nine Projects Private Limited’s Surpreet Singh Suri, Vidur Bhardwaj, Nirmal Singh, Aditya Gupta, Ashish Gupta, former IAS Mohinder Singh and others were searched. All were found involved in the crime of money laundering.
Further investigation is being done on the basis of suspicious documents recovered. Some other associate companies of HPPL are also being investigated. HPPL had raised Rs 636 crore from investors to build Lotus-300 flats in Noida. Case registered under Money Laundering Act
Noida Authority had allotted land in Sector 107 in the year 2010-11 for the residential project. The lease of the land was in the name of Nirmal Singh, Surpreet Singh Suri and Vidur Bhardwaj. The company directors had diverted Rs 190 crore from the amount raised from investors to other companies and grabbed it.
A part of the land was sold to another builder and only a nominal amount was paid to Noida Authority for this. By doing this, a fraud of Rs 236 crore was committed. ED has registered a case under Money Laundering Act against the directors, promoters and others of HPPL and is investigating the case of grabbing Rs 426 crore of investors.
The directors have also cheated investors, Noida Authority and banks in the name of other projects. After embezzling the investors’ money, the directors used to resign from the company. ED had started investigating this fraud case on the orders of Allahabad High Court.
This was recovered
- Rs 85 lakh in cash
- Diamonds and gold jewellery worth Rs 29.35 crore
- One diamond worth Rs 5.26 crore
- Diamond jewellery worth Rs 7.1 crore
- Many valuable properties collected from black money
Former IAS officer Mohinder Singh has not only collected glittering diamonds from black money but has also collected many valuable properties in Chandigarh, Delhi, Noida and other big cities. According to sources, during interrogation, the former IAS has admitted to having agricultural land, shops, commercial buildings, flats and other properties in Chandigarh.
Apart from this, documents related to properties purchased in Delhi and other places have also been recovered. Further investigation is being done on the basis of documents related to properties recovered from all the locations during the raid. ED can start raiding some other places from Monday. ED will soon get six bank lockers opened and examined.
Layers of the memorial scam will also be revealed
Layers of Mohinder Singh’s role in the much talked about memorial scam during the BSP regime can also be revealed soon. He was also the head of the Housing Development Department. After ED tightens its grip, Vigilance will also take forward the investigation against him. In the investigation of the memorial scam, Vigilance had summoned Mohinder Singh by issuing a notice about two years ago, but he had informed that he was in Australia and did not come forward.
