ED arrests Punjab minister Sanjeev Arora in GST fraud case
Punjab politics came to a boil on Saturday with Assembly elections less than a year away, when the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Punjab Industries Minister Sanjeev Arora following raids in connection with an alleged Rs 100 crore GST fraud-related money laundering case involving certain entities linked to him.
Following the arrest, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann condemned the ED action, accusing the Centre of using agencies like the ED and the CBI as weapons to scare Opposition leaders into joining the BJP. But the BJP hit back, saying AAP supremo and his party are rattled as they know that their days are numbered in Punjab.
In less than a year after being sworn in as a minister, Arora has emerged as a key member of the AAP Government in Punjab, holding several important portfolios -- industries and commerce, investment promotion, power and local Government.
Before the arrest, the ED conducted searches at five locations across northern India earlier in the day as part of the operation. These included two premises in Delhi and a company named Hampton Sky Realty Ltd in Udyog Vihar, Gurugram.
The raids came after the central agency registered a new case under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), according to officials. The inputs for the latest case emerged from a FEMA search that the ED had undertaken against Arora and some others on April 17.
The latest probe (under the PMLA) pertains to “fake” GST purchases of mobile phones worth more than Rs 100 crore and subsequent exports to “round trip” alleged illegitimate funds from Dubai to India, according to the ED. The ED alleged that multiple fake GST purchase invoices were acquired from “non-existing” firms in Delhi to falsely claim Input Tax Credit (ITC).
Arora was already under investigation in a money laundering case, which included an ED raid in 2024, where he and his associates were accused of misusing industrial land for residential developments while he was a Rajya Sabha MP.
Punjab Chief Minister Mann criticised the ED action during a press conference in Sangrur. “The end of this unethical alliance of ED-BJP will begin from Punjab,” he said. In a post on X, Kejriwal likened the prime minister to Aurangzeb and alleged that, like the Mughal emperor, “Modiji has dishonestly occupied various parts of the country and has now reached Punjab”.
The AAP has called the raids a political witch hunt launched at the behest of the BJP government at the Centre as Punjab goes to polls early next year. In recent weeks, the ED has taken significant actions against politically connected individuals in Punjab, which is due to go to the polls in early 2027.
Kejriwal alleged, “Modi ji has started daily ED raids in Punjab soon after the Bengal polls concluded. Modi ji has coerced Punjab in the last few years and ill-treated Punjabis by different means.” He said AAP Rajya Sabha MP Ashok Mittal joined the BJP after raids by the ED at his premises. Arora was also raided, but did not join the BJP; so another raid has been conducted, he alleged.
