India, May 23 -- The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has made its first arrest in a money-laundering investigation into an alleged change of land use (CLU) fraud involving major real estate projects across Punjab.

The accused, Ajay Sehgal, is the main promoter of Suntec City project developed by the Indian Cooperative Housing Building Society (ICHBS). Sehgal, a former secretary of ICHBS, was summoned by the federal agency to record his statement regarding the CLU fraud at its Jalandhar regional office and was arrested on Friday night. He will be produced in a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Mohali.

The agency is probing alleged irregularities in CLU licences granted to projects linked with Suntec City and Altus S...