The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has frozen Rs 4 crore in bank accounts belonging to two retired officials of the Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation (PSIEC) — Surinder Pal Singh, former Chief General Manager, and Jaswinder Singh Randhawa, former General Manager — in connection with alleged industrial plot allotment scam.During the searches, unaccounted cash amounting to Rs 12.15 lakh was recovered and seized. The Jalandhar Zonal Office of the central agency conducted searches at 11 premises in Chandigarh, Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Ludhiana on August 4, 5 and 6 as part of a money laundering investigation linked to the alleged illegal allotment of industrial plots by PSIEC officials.A survey was also carried out at the PSIEC office under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. Various incriminating documents and digital devices were recovered and seized during the searches.The ED initiated its probe on the basis of an FIR registered by the Vigilance Bureau police station under various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018), and the Indian Penal Code against several PSIEC officials and private individuals.According to the ED, the investigation revealed that industrial plots were allotted to persons with no knowledge or experience in technical industries. Fake firms and fictitious addresses were used in application forms, and plots were allegedly allotted to such individuals through their close connections with PSIEC officials.Possession of the plots was not handed over within the stipulated period and was delayed by several years. The intervening period was treated as a “zero period”, and allotment dates were shifted forward to facilitate payment plans carrying zero interest. Investigators found that these illegal allotments were allegedly made in exchange for substantial bribes received by officials directly or indirectly through cash transactions and layered financial arrangements.Several allotments were made in the names of shell entities and fictitious firms, which were subsequently used to sell the plots at prevailing market rates to third-party buyers, generating substantial proceeds. The probe also found that plots originally allotted for setting up industries were later bifurcated and diverted for residential and commercial development.