The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday carried out fresh searches in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh as part of a money laundering probe involving Punjab minister Sanjeev Arora and others in an alleged Rs 100 crore GST fraud linked to mobile phone sales.
Officials said nearly six locations in Jalandhar and Ludhiana in Punjab, along with Bareilly and Noida in Uttar Pradesh, were searched.
The raids covered residential and business premises connected to individuals and entities under the scanner in connection with Hampton Sky Realty Ltd., a company linked to Arora, officials said.
Arora, 62, was arrested by the central agency last month after day-long searches at his official residence in Chandigarh. He is currently in judicial custody. He had been holding the Power, Industry and Commerce portfolios in the Punjab government.
Following his arrest, the Bhagwant Mann-led government reassigned his ministerial responsibilities to other cabinet colleagues.
(With inputs from PTI)