CHANDIGARH: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday conducted a series of raids at premises associated with Sanjeev Arora, Punjab’s Industries Minister, as part of an ongoing investigation, officials said.
Sources said that officers of the Enforcement Directorate are carrying out searches at 13 locations in Gurgaon, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, and Jalandhar under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). The coordinated raids, which began around 6:30 a.m., are targeting the residence and official premises of Sanjeev Arora, along with properties linked to his business associates and family members, including his daughter.
The ED teams were provided security by personnel from a central paramilitary force.
Interestingly, Arora was travelling to Europe as part of the Punjab Government’s “Invest Punjab” initiative, aimed at attracting foreign investment. He left for Amsterdam late on Thursday evening. Other senior state officials, along with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, are also expected to travel abroad shortly in connection with the same programme..
Sources alleged that Arora is the promoter of company M/s Hampton Sky Realty Ltd (formerly M/s Ritesh Properties and Industries Ltd) which is into large scale real estate and infra projects in Punjab. The company is under scanner for alleged multiple irregularities such as illegal change of land use in the state, booking fraudulent and inflated sales to boost share prices, insider trading in the stock market, and routing illegal betting money from the UAE to India, among others. At present, his son, Kavya Arora, is the Managing Director of the company, and his premises are also being searched.
Responding to the ED raids at his premises, Arora stated that he would fully cooperate with the investigation. In a post on X, he said, “An action by the Enforcement Directorate took place at my premises. As a responsible citizen, I will fully cooperate with the agencies, and I am confident that the truth will prevail."
Arora had earlier been subjected to ED action in 2024. At the time, the agency alleged that companies linked to him and certain other entities had caused losses to the State exchequer and generated substantial proceeds of crime through the alleged misuse of industrial land for residential projects.
Besides Arora searches are being conducted at the premises of Hemant Sood of Findoc Finvest in Ludhiana, and of an alleged bookie Chandrasekhar Aggarwal in Jalandhar.
In a related development earlier this week, the ED conducted searches under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) at premises linked to Ashok Kumar Mittal, a Rajya Sabha member from the AAP, as well as his educational institutions in Punjab and Haryana.
This development has sparked sharp political reactions from the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Party leaders have alleged that it is politically motivated. Meanwhile, Ravneet Singh Bittu, on his Facebook post said: “All will be caught”, by adding picture of Sanjeev Arora writing raids at Arora.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann slammed the BJP-led central government after the ED carried out raids against minister Sanjeev Arora, saying democracy is being "murdered" and only "non-BJP governments are being harassed".
(With inputs from PTI )