Chandigarh [India], May 12 : The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday refused to grant relief to Punjab Minister Sanjeev Arora from arrest in a money laundering investigation regarding alleged fraudulent GST transactions. The court has adjourned the hearing regarding his challenge against the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to May 14.
A special court in Gurugram has remanded the AAP MP to seven days of ED custody. The arrest, which took place in Chandigarh on May 9, is linked to alleged fraudulent GST transactions exceeding Rs 100 crore.
Sanjeev Arora's counsel spoke to ANI about the reasons behind the petition, stating, "We have challenged his arrest in court, stating it's against constitutional provisions and PMLA. Based on established law, the way the arrest was made by creating an issue, we've even argued the foundational FIR is illegal. These are the issues we've raised before the court."
Arora was arrested following a day-long search at his four premises, including his residence, his associated entities, and one office premises belonging to Hampton Sky Realty Limited (HSRL), which is also under the agency's scanner in the case.
The ED's action was part of an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) recorded by it on May 5 this year.
During the investigation, the ED said, HSRL is found to be "beneficially owned and controlled by Sanieev Arora and his family members, with Kavya Arora, son of Sanjeev Arora, as Managing Director, along with Hemant Sood, Chander Sekhar, Findoc Finvest Pvt Ltd and others.
ED further said HSRL sold mobile phones worth Rs 157.12 crore during the Financial Year 2023-24, to several local and overseas entities. "Sanjeev Arora was the Chairman and Managing Director of HISRL and was responsible for the conduct of the business of the company when the aforesaid illicit transactions took place," accused the ED in remand copy.
Aam Aadmi Party national convenor, Arvind Kejriwal, on Sunday heaped praise on Sanjeev Arora for choosing to face arrest by the ED rather than joining the BJP.
"A person's character is revealed in times of trouble. Sanjiv Arora preferred going to jail over joining the BJP. Salute to him," Kejriwal's post read.
AAP minister, Harbhajan Singh ETO, also criticised the Central government for the ED arrest of his colleague and alleged that central agencies were being used to pressure opposition leaders to join the BJP.
The AAP minister said, "This is an attempt to intimidate people into joining the BJP under 'Operation Lotus,' which we strongly condemn."
On the other side, Punjab BJP President Sunil Jakhar launched a scathing attack on the AAP government on Sunday, asserting that the era of "misgovernance" in the state is drawing to a close.