Chandigarh: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Punjab Industries minister Sanjeev Arora on Saturday hours after carrying out fresh raids at his residence as well as that of other persons allegedly linked to him in connection with a newly-registered money laundering probe.
ED’s move has heightened the political confrontation between the AAP-helmed state government in Punjab and the BJP-led Union government.
AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal claimed that the arrest of Kapoor and ED’s latest crackdown will backfire politically on the saffron party.
“Those you arrest will come out of jail in four days, but BJP will not be able to enter Punjab for the next 20 years,” Kejriwal said.
ED teams searched Arora’s official residence in Chandigarh’s Sector 2, two locations in Delhi and one in Gurugram after a fresh case was registered under the criminal provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). According to the ED, the probe relates to fake GST purchases of mobile phones worth more than Rs 100 crore and exports allegedly used to “round-trip” illegitimate funds from Dubai to India.
On April 17, ED officials had searched Arora and linked entities under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
The central agency had provisionally attached movable and immovable assets worth Rs 157.12 crore linked to Hampton Sky Realty Ltd, Arora and related entities over alleged bogus sales and exports.
The 62-year-old Arora, an MLA from Ludhiana West, also faced ED raid in 2024 in connection with an alleged industrial land misuse case. At that time, Arora was a Rajya Sabha MP.
