Over 100 Officials Locked In as Mattresses Arrive for Overnight Grilling
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In an unprecedented enforcement crackdown rattling Punjab's bureaucratic and urban development corridors, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) expanded its high-stakes search and interrogation operation at the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) headquarters in Phase 8 for the second consecutive day. What commenced as an early morning raid on Tuesday has escalated into an around-the-clock investigative lockdown stretching past 36 continuous hours, with federal sleuths sealing off three entire floors of the administrative complex. Demonstrating clear indications that the deep-dive scrutiny will extend through another night, fresh consignments of mattresses sourced from a local gurdwara and catered buffet meals from nearby establishments were ferried into the high-security perimeter on Wednesday evening to accommodate more than 100 central force personnel, federal investigators, and detained department officials.
Three Floors Sealed Under Armed Guard: Over 100 Personnel Deployed Inside GMADA HQ
Transforming the premier urban development hub into a fortress, the central financial investigation agency requisitioned additional battalions of central paramilitary forces to enforce a blanket containment protocol across all access points. Movement into and out of the Phase 8 headquarters has been restricted, barring outside communication and preventing dozens of key administrative personnel, town planners, and financial clerks under the scanner from exiting the premises. The logistical arrangement within the sealed compound highlights the depth of the inquiry, with teams arranging improvised sleeping stations and local mini-buffet provisions as interrogators meticulously scour physical land allocation files, tender archives, high-value commercial allotments, and encrypted departmental server backups spanning multiple fiscal years.
Top Bureaucrat Vikas Garg Escorted Home and Brought Back as Probes Intensify
The federal probe reached the highest echelons of state administration on Wednesday afternoon when ED investigators escorted senior IAS officer and Punjab Housing Department Secretary Vikas Garg from the GMADA headquarters directly to his private residence in an official convoy. Avoiding the throngs of media crews stationed outside the main entrance, federal agents entered the senior bureaucrat's residence through an alternate rear gate, conducted targeted searches, and swiftly brought him back to the GMADA complex for continued joint interrogations. While the Enforcement Directorate has not yet issued a formal press release detailing specific seizures or the exact primary money-laundering docket under invocation, the marathon operation is expected to continue well into the early morning hours as forensic data extraction and multi-cadre questioning progress.
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