Mohali, September : The Enforcement Directorate has widened its investigation into alleged financial irregularities in the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA), bringing another senior IAS officer into the inquiry. Former GMADA Chief Administrator Sakshi Sawhney has been summoned by the agency as investigators examine decisions relating to land allotments, concessions, change of land use and dealings with private developers.
The development comes after an extensive search operation at the GMADA headquarters in Phase 8, Mohali, which continued for around 36 hours and ended on Thursday. According to reports, the ED took away more than 30 bags of documents and hard discs containing scanned records. Sources cited in the reports said the agency had gathered substantial material and could summon more officials on the basis of the documents seized. No GMADA official had been taken into custody when the search ended.
The summoning of Sakshi Sawhney is significant because she served as GMADA Chief Administrator for more than six months between October 2025 and May 2026. Government records show that she was replaced as GMADA Chief Administrator by Sandeep Kumar in May 2026.
However, the immediate reason for the ED’s interest in Sawhney, according to reporting, is not simply the auction of Sector 62 land. The agency has reportedly summoned her in connection with the case involving Remigate Buildestates, a private developer, and an alleged waiver of more than тВ╣100 crore in dues payable to GMADA.
The issue relates to a 1.13-acre food-court site in Sector 62 that was allotted to Remigate after an auction in 2015. The ED had earlier summoned GMADA’s serving and former chief engineers in connection with an alleged waiver of nearly тВ╣40 crore in non-construction charges and penal interest relating to the site. More recent reporting says the agency now has records concerning an alleged waiver exceeding тВ╣100 crore and is examining the decision-making process behind it.
According to The Tribune’s reporting, the waiver under scrutiny was approved during the 34th meeting of GMADA in 2025, when Sawhney was the authority’s Chief Administrator. The ED has therefore sought to examine the records and the role of officials involved in the decision. Importantly, being summoned for questioning does not mean that an officer has been accused of committing a crime or that wrongdoing has been established against that officer. The purpose of the inquiry is to establish the circumstances surrounding the decisions and trace any financial consequences or possible proceeds of crime.
The investigation itself appears to be considerably broader than the Remigate matter.
The ED’s searches at GMADA have focused on records relating to change of land use, land acquisition, property auctions, approvals, concessions allegedly granted to private real-estate companies and other decisions taken by the development authority. Investigators have also been examining decisions relating to agricultural land that was subsequently brought into residential, commercial or mixed-land-use categories.
This explains why the investigation has increasingly moved towards serving as well as former bureaucrats.
GMADA is a statutory development authority, and major decisions concerning land acquisition, planning permissions, auctions, development rights and financial concessions pass through its administrative and technical machinery. For the ED, the significance of examining officials is therefore not necessarily that every officer is suspected of personal financial wrongdoing. Rather, investigators appear to be reconstructing how particular decisions were taken, who approved them, what rules were applied, whether prescribed procedures were followed and whether any private party obtained an unlawful financial advantage.
The agency’s money-laundering investigation is linked to allegations involving real-estate entities and suspected proceeds of crime. Reports have identified Tirupati Infraprojects and associated companies among the entities being investigated. Searches have been conducted at multiple locations in Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana and Delhi, while the GMADA office became a major focus because of the authority’s dealings with private developers and its role in land development.
Sector 62 has emerged as one of the important areas under scrutiny because of the exceptionally high value of its land and its planned role in Mohali’s urban development.
The official Mohali planning documents identify Sector 62 as a financial and business district, with corporate offices, commercial development, retail centres, mixed and integrated developments, hotels and convention facilities. The wider Mohali Master Plan describes Sector 62 and Sector 87 as an important commercial and business area for the Greater Mohali region.
That planning history makes changes in the permitted use or development potential of land in the area financially significant. But it is important to distinguish between the planning framework and the allegations now being investigated. The existence of mixed-land-use provisions does not by itself establish that any particular auction or development project was illegal.
The value of recent Sector 62 transactions illustrates the scale involved. In March 2026, Homeland Group and VRC acquired a roughly 13-acre mixed-land-use parcel in Sector 62 through a GMADA auction for more than тВ╣600 crore. The reported project is planned as a mixed development with residential apartments and commercial space.
Separately, in August 2026, a 27.78-acre Sector 62 property was auctioned for тВ╣1,742.31 crore against a reserve price of тВ╣1,214.16 crore. The auction generated intense competition and the final bid was substantially above the reserve price.
These transactions demonstrate why GMADA’s land records, auction procedures, reserve-price decisions and planning permissions carry considerable financial importance. They do not, however, establish that these particular transactions are the subject of criminal wrongdoing.
The ED’s current investigation appears to be attempting to connect the administrative decision-making process with the financial trail. That includes examining who took particular decisions, what records supported them, whether concessions were authorised, whether developers received benefits beyond the applicable rules and whether any suspected proceeds of crime subsequently entered real-estate transactions.
The scale of the operation underlines the seriousness with which the agency is treating the investigation. During the search, three floors of the GMADA headquarters were sealed and the mobile phones of senior officials were taken into custody. More than 100 ED personnel and members of central forces were reportedly present during the prolonged operation. Several senior officers were questioned, including Housing Secretary Vikas Garg, GMADA Chief Administrator Sandeep Rishi and officials handling land acquisition, estate, engineering and finance.
The Punjab Government subsequently approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court over the continuing operation. The High Court appointed a warrant officer to inspect the premises and submit a report, adding a judicial dimension to the dispute over the search.
The search concluded on Thursday, but the investigation is far from over. The documents and electronic records removed from GMADA are now expected to form the basis for further scrutiny and questioning. The ED has already indicated through its actions that the inquiry is not confined to one property or one official.
For Sakshi Sawhney, the next stage will therefore centre on the records and decisions relating to the period in which she headed GMADA. Her summons means that investigators want her account and relevant records concerning decisions taken during her tenure. It does not, by itself, establish criminal liability.
The larger question for the investigation is whether the various land-use decisions, auctions, concessions and administrative approvals under scrutiny were taken strictly according to law and whether any financial benefit arising from alleged irregularities ultimately constituted or generated proceeds of crime. Those questions will have to be answered through documentary evidence, financial records, statements of officials and the subsequent legal process.
For now, the ED’s widening netтАФfrom serving officials to former GMADA administratorsтАФshows that investigators are seeking to reconstruct the decision-making chain behind some of Mohali’s most valuable real-estate transactions rather than examining an isolated property dispute. The eventual findings of the agency and, where required, the courts will determine whether the allegations translate into prosecutable offences.
