New Delhi [India], May 9 (HBTV): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday carried out raids at multiple locations linked to Punjab Minister Sanjeev Arora in connection with an ongoing alleged INR 100 crore money laundering probe.
The searches are being conducted at five premises across Delhi, Gurugram and Chandigarh under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
Of these, four locations are allegedly associated with Arora and his entities, while one office premises belongs to Hampton Sky Realty Limited.
The ED investigation relates to an alleged large-scale money laundering operation involving alleged fake GST transactions.
Officials said Arora, through his company, is allegedly accused of generating fraudulent purchase bills of mobile phones worth over INR 100 crore from non-existent firms based in Delhi. These transactions were allegedly used to claim undue input tax credit (ITC), along with wrongful GST refunds on export credits and duty drawbacks.
The agency further suspects that the funds were allegedly routed through exports and subsequently round-tripped from Dubai to India to legitimise illicit gains, causing significant losses to the government exchequer.
The search operations are currently underway at premises linked to Arora and his associates in Chandigarh and the Delhi-NCR region, including his official residence allotted as a minister.
Earlier, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann accused the BJP of misusing the Enforcement Directorate, claiming that this was the third ED visit to Arora's residence in one year and the second in the last month, while alleging that nothing had been found so far.
In a post on X, the Chief Minister wrote, 'Today, once again, the BJP's ED has come to Sanjeev Arora's house. In one year, this is the third time the BJP's ED has come to his house. And in the last one month, the second time. Yet, they haven't found anything. I want to tell Modi ji that Punjab is the land of the Gurus, which even Aurangzeb could not subdue.'
He further said that Punjab, the land of the Gurus and freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, has always stood strong against injustice and would continue to do so.
'This is the land of Bhagat Singh, who never bowed before the British, so Punjab will never bow before Modi's tactics. The end of this unethical alliance of ED-BJP will begin from Punjab itself,' the post read. (ANI)