Chandigarh: Taking up an urgent hearing application filed by the Punjab government seeking judicial intervention, the Punjab and Haryana high court has appointed a warrant officer to monitor the ongoing Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids and submit a status report by 2pm on Thursday.
The raids have ignited a political battle between the state and the Centre. The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) accused the BJP-led central government of misusing central agencies to intimidate state leadership, disrupt GMADA’s administrative functioning, and stall welfare initiatives like the Mawan Dheeyan Satkar Yojana, claiming the Centre was resorting to coercion after losing political ground in Punjab. The court’s step follows an ED search operation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. ED teams, led by senior officers, also broke open the locks of a government bungalow in Sector 39, Chandigarh, used by former Delhi minister Satyendar Jain, to search for relevant material.
The agency expanded its multi-city sweep on Wednesday by raiding the house of Gurpreet Singh Saini, the nephew of Punjab revenue minister Hardeep Singh Mundian, in Sahnewal, Ludhiana, even as searches at the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) headquarters continued for a second consecutive day.
