Overview
- The ED, which searched 11 locations on April 27 tied to H.S. Bhullar and associates, said it seized or froze Rs 1.4 crore and recovered property papers across Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Kapurthala, Mohali and Zirakpur.
- Investigators say cash moved through bank accounts of property dealers and suspected benamidars, meaning people who hold assets in someone else’s name, and was then used to buy land and homes.
- The money-laundering case draws on two CBI police case files known as FIRs based on scrap dealer Akash Batta’s complaint about a bribe demand via a middleman and on alleged disproportionate assets, with Bhullar arrested on October 16, 2025.
- The ED says it is tracing cash flows and mapping links between property brokers, intermediaries and public servants to confirm who really owns the assets and how the network operated.
- The action lands as the ED reports a FY26 enforcement surge with 812 chargesheets, record asset attachments of about Rs 81,422 crore and a live courtroom debate on whether PMLA trials can continue without completed primary cases.