Chandigarh, May 9 (IANS): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Punjab Cabinet Minister Sanjeev Arora from his official residence in Sector 2, Chandigarh, on Saturday, following extensive search operations at four premises linked to him across Chandigarh and the Delhi-NCR region under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002. This marks the third ED raid on Arora’s properties within a year, with the previous raid having taken place just a month earlier in April. While no official statement has been issued by the ED regarding the arrest, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia claimed Arora was arrested in connection with an alleged Rs 100 crore fake GST mobile phone purchase and export racket linked to money laundering and round-tripping of funds from Dubai to India, with the probe reportedly connected to Hampton Sky Realty Ltd. In 2024, Arora – then a Rajya Sabha MP and now a legislator from Ludhiana West – had already faced ED raids in a money laundering case related to the alleged conversion of industrial land for residential projects.
The arrest triggered sharp political reactions from both the ruling Aam Aadmi Party and the opposition. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann accused the BJP of misusing central agencies, stating that despite three raids in one year, nothing had been found, and warning that “Punjab will never bow before Modi’s tactics.” AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal echoed the sentiment, alleging that the ED and CBI under the Modi government were being used not to fight corruption but to destabilise opposition parties and coerce political leaders into joining the BJP. SAD leader Majithia, however, took a contrasting stance, demanding immediate lookout circulars against several individuals allegedly linked to the GST fraud, illegal Dubai money transfers, and suspicious land dealings, and calling for equal application of the law to ruling party leaders and their associates, stating that “Punjab cannot be turned into a hub of corruption, middlemen and political protection.”