Face2News/Jalandhar
Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Jalandhar Zonal Office has conducted search operations on 02.11.2026 and 03.11.2026 at 14 locations in Punjab and Chandigarh under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in connection with a money laundering investigation against Sunder Sham Arora, former Minister of Industries and Commerce, Punjab, his son Parteek Arora and their associates.
The premises searched include the residential premises of Sunder Sham Arora at Hoshiarpur, M/s Shivam Hospital, Hoshiarpur, and premises linked to M/s SRG Builders and Promoters Pvt Ltd, M/s GRG Developers and Promoters LLP, M/s Gulmohar Township India Pvt Ltd and their promoters, directors and associates in Chandigarh and Mohali.
ED investigation was initiated on the basis of FIR registered by Vigilance Bureau, Punjab under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against Sunder Sham Arora and amassing assets disproportionate to the known source of income. He had offered a bribe of Rs. 1 crore to a senior officer of the Vigilance Bureau to settle the enquiries pending against him and was arrested red-handed on 15.10.2022 at Zirakpur while handing over Rs. 50 lakh in cash as advance payment.
ED investigation has revealed that Sunder Sham Arora, during his tenure as Minister of Industries and Commerce, Punjab from March 2017 to September 2021, had direct control over the functioning of Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation (PSIEC). During this period, he extended undue favours to private real estate players in the transfer of high-value PSIEC industrial plots and, in return, acquired stakes in real estate entities in the name of his son Parteek Arora.
Industrial Plot No. A-32, Phase 8, Mohali, originally allotted by PSIEC to M/s JCT Electronics (now bankrupt), was transferred to M/s GRG Developers and Promoters LLP for Rs. 90.56 Crore through an auction conducted by ARCIL in February 2020. Although PSIEC was entitled to 50% of the sale value as unearned increase, besides enhanced land cost and transfer fee, under the terms of the lease deed, these dues were never fully paid to PSIEC.
Even after the tripartite agreement between PSIEC, ARCIL and GRG was cancelled in August 2021, no steps were taken to cancel the lease deed or resume the plot. The then Minister Sunder Sham Arora approved proposals for post facto approvals regarding the calculation of unearned increase and enhanced fees and was directly involved in the affairs of the plot. Bank records further show that Sunder Sham Arora, through his son Parteek Arora, also invested in the purchase of the said plot. Investigation revealed that even before the possession of the plot and necessary approvals from PSIEC and RERA, the plot was subdivided and sold to third party persons, thereby defeating the purpose of establishing industry on the allotted land from PSIEC and generating proceeds of crime through bifurcation and sale of plots.
Further investigation has revealed that in September 2020, Parteek Arora acquired a 35% shareholding in M/s SRG Builders and Promoters Pvt Ltd, a sister concern of Deepak Garg and his brother Devi Dayal Garg, who are also behind M/s GRG Developers and Promoters LLP. Parteek Arora is also a partner, along with the owners of M/s GRG Developers and Promoters LLP and their family members, in M/s Aggarwal Buildtech, M/s SS Developers and M/s Land Developers.
Investigation also revealed that M/s Gulmohar Township India Pvt Ltd began making payments to M/s Signify Innovations India Ltd from August 2020 and had paid Rs. 27.5 crore even before the Agreement to Sell was executed on 23.10.2020, at a time when the mandatory NOC from PSIEC had not been obtained. Analysis of bank accounts further revealed that the payments for the plot and the stamp duty for its registration were substantially funded by Sanjeev Kumar Juneja, a close associate of Jagdeep Singh, Director of M/s Gulmohar Township India Pvt Ltd, who transferred about Rs. 28.65 Crore to the company between August 2020 and February 2021.
The search operation resulted in the recovery and seizure of mobile phones, incriminating documents, property documents, records relating to PSIEC plots, digital devices and freezing of bank lockers. Further investigation is under progress.
Punjab
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