ED raids Sanjeev Arora properties in 3 cities:AAP minister faces allegations of ₹100 cr GST purchases; Kejriwal accuses Centre govt

Punjab minister Sanjeev Arora raided by ED, reports claim he was detained from Chandigarh residence. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out raids on Saturday against Punjab minister Sanjeev Arora. According to sources, he was also detained from his government residence in Chandigarh, though there has been no official confirmation so far. Raids were conducted at his official residence in Chandigarh and at locations in Delhi and Gurugram. Around 15 ED vehicles reached the minister’s house in Sector 2, Chandigarh, and the entire premises was sealed. CRPF personnel were deployed outside the residence and no one was allowed to enter or leave the house. This is the third ED raid on Sanjeev Arora this year and the second within a month. ED sources said search operations are underway at four locations, including his government residence and the office of Hampton Sky Realty Limited. AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal accused the Centre of misusing investigation agencies under the Modi government. He said the BJP was using the ED to break political parties instead of investigating money laundering cases. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann strongly reacted to the raids and said the BJP was targeting Punjab leaders through central agencies. He alleged that the purpose of ED raids was not to catch black money but to force leaders into joining the BJP. Mann claimed that a similar raid was recently conducted at the residence of Ashok Mittal and that he joined the BJP shortly afterwards. The Chief Minister also attacked the BJP, saying the party should be called the “Burn India Party”. He added that Punjab had earlier forced the Centre to withdraw the farm laws. ₹100 crore GST input tax credit case According to the investigation, Sanjeev Arora allegedly showed fake GST purchases of mobile phones worth more than ₹100 crore through his company and used them for large-scale money laundering. Officials suspect the goods exports were later used for illegal round-tripping of funds from Dubai to India. The agency said fake GST purchase bills were obtained from non-existent firms in Delhi to claim fraudulent input tax credit (ITC), GST refunds and duty drawbacks on exports. Investigators believe this caused losses to the government treasury while generating personal profits. Raids were also conducted last month Around 20 days ago, the ED had also raided locations linked to Sanjeev Arora and his two business partners in Ludhiana and Jalandhar. Officials had then claimed that Arora was suspected of protecting illegal betting operators in Punjab through his political influence in return for a share in their profits. Investigators also alleged that he used his companies and several entry operators to convert unaccounted betting money into legal investments, helping in money laundering activities. According to officials, companies linked to Sanjeev Arora are also under investigation for allegedly creating fake export bills, routing funds from the UAE through round-tripping, and showing fake purchases from non-existent GST entities. ​