Punjab minister Sanjeev Arora sent to judicial custody in ₹100-crore ED case; AAP's Deepak Singla arrested in fraud case

Punjab Minister and AAP leader Sanjeev Arora was on Monday, 18 May, sent to judicial custody till 1 June by a Gurugram court in connection with an alleged ₹100-crore money laundering case, Live Law reported.

Arora, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Chandigarh on 9 May, was produced before the court after his custodial remand was completed.

Arora was booked in a ₹100-crore GST fraud linked to a company he previously headed. He has approached the High Court challenging his arrest under the Prevention of Money.

Arora's ED custody was set to expire on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Punjab and Haryana High Court was scheduled to hear Arora’s plea challenging his custody on Monday.

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), which it recorded on 5 May this year.

Earlier in the day, the ED conducted a raid at Singla's residence in Delhi as part of its investigation into the alleged fraud case.

Singla was a candidate for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) from the Vishwas Nagar assembly seat in Delhi. He was raided by the ED in 2024 as part of an investigation, too.

The money laundering case is a fallout of a bank loan fraud.

Singla was put under arrest after the searches led to the alleged recovery of incriminating documents, the officials were quoted as saying.

In a post on X, Atishi said the searches come amid what she described as AAP's "growing popularity" in Goa, alleging that the BJP was attempting to intimidate party workers through enforcement actions.

"With Aam Aadmi Party's popularity growing in Goa, BJP's loyal foot-soldier, ED has been sent here as well! From early morning today, there is an ED raid at the residence of AAP Goa co-incharge, Deepak Singla, as well as the home of some volunteers in Goa. Not only is this an attempt to scare our volunteers, but also to acquire all our organisational data for the BJP! Atishi wrote in the post.

In a separate video message shared on X, she alleged that the ED raided the residence of the AAP leader Sanjeev Arora after he refused to join the BJP, while those who joined the party, including former AAP MP Ashok Mittal, were spared.

"The whole country saw how the BJP used ED against TMC in the Bengal elections. The agency IPAC, which was fighting the elections for TMC, sent the workers to jail. All the data of TMC's organisation was stolen through ED before the elections. After the elections, everyone was released from jail," she said.

"After the Bengal elections, the next attack was on Punjab. In Punjab, raids were launched on the houses of common party leaders. No action was taken against the BJP leaders who ran away. But leaders like Sanjeev Arora, who refused to join the BJP, were sent to jail. And now, after Punjab, the next target is Goa," she said in the video message.

She questioned the “raids” on the residences of AAP Goa co-incharge Deepak Singla and other party workers, describing it as the BJP's attempt to downplay AAP in Goa, amid the party's “growing popularity”.

(With inputs from PTI)