The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday (May 9) arrested Punjab minister and senior AAP leader Sanjeev Arora after carrying outsearches for over eight hoursin connection with an alleged large-scale money laundering and fake GST billing case linked to mobile phone purchases and exports. Officials said Arora was questioned at his residence before being placed under arrest following coordinated raids conducted at five locations across Delhi, Gurugram, and Chandigarh, including the office premises of Hampton Sky Realty Limited and properties linked to the minister.
The raid marks the second such action by central agencies in just a month. Earlier on April 17, theED had conducted searches at premises linked to Aroraand his associated entities under the civil provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
Arora, 62, is an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA representing the Ludhiana West assembly constituency.
The ED claims it has detected a case of large-scale money laundering by Sanjeev Arora through his company, involving fake GST purchases of mobile phones worth more than Rs 100 crore and subsequent exports to round-trip illegitimate funds from Dubai to India. Officials, as per PTI, claimed Arora (62) was "non-cooperative" during the probe. He is expected to be produced before a local court on Saturday, where the agency will seek his custody for a detailed interrogation.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann accused the BJP of using central agencies such as the ED, CBI and Income Tax Department as “political weapons” to target opposition leaders. Mann claimed states approaching elections often witness increased action by probe agencies and alleged that Punjab has now become the BJP’s latest target.
"For a long time, they have been using them for their politics. Be it Maharashtra, Odisha, Bihar, Karnataka, West Bengal. Now, Punjab is on their target," Mann said.
"The purpose of ED raids is not to recover black money or documents. The real intention is to pressure leaders into joining the BJP by threatening their businesses and reputation," he added.
The chief minister also referred to AAP Rajya Sabha MP Ashok Mittal, alleging that raids at his residence and university stopped after he joined the BJP. "If there were serious cases, where did they disappear?" Mann questioned.
Mann further claimed that the ED raid at Sanjeev Arora’s residence was the third such action in a year and the second this month, alleging that earlier searches had yielded nothing.
The agency suspects the alleged transactions were used to fraudulently claim tax benefits and route illegitimate funds back into India through exports linked to Dubai. Further investigation into the alleged money trail and associated entities is underway.
Source: India Latest News, Breaking News Today, Top News Headlines | Times Now
