‘Serious allegations’: Punjab minister Sanjeev Arora sent to 7-day ED custody in Rs 100-crore money laundering case | India News
New Delhi: Punjab Industries Minister Sanjeev Arora was sent to seven-day custody on Sunday Enforcement Directorate (ED), a day after the central agency arrested him in a Rs 100 crore GST fraud-linked money laundering case.Gurugram’s sessions-cum-special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court judge Narendra Sura observed that the charges against Arora were “very serious” and the central agency needed her custody to investigate and trace the alleged money trail.Appearing for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader, his lawyer alleged that a “false and frivolous” case was “concocted” against the minister and that no evidence was initially collected by the investigating officer before his arrest.However, the court noted that the ED had a “good and sufficient reason” for seeking custody and it would be “just and proper” to remand him for a week. The agency sought a 10-day custodial interrogation.“Since the charges against the accused are very serious and the ED is seeking to decode the money trail, the role of the accused, along with his persons/accomplices, who assisted in the crime of money laundering, in order to know how the accused persons succeeded in earning the money of the crime, according to the court, there is a ground court opinion for an interlocutory disclosure of the accused,” Justice Sura wrote in his order. The order said, “The ED is bound to trace the money, the method adopted by the accused for generating the proceeds of crime and its movement from one source to another. In my considered opinion, the above objective can be achieved only when the petitioner is given an opportunity to interrogate the accused in custodial custody.”The ED told the court that its case relates to Hampton Sky Realty Limited (HSRL), a Gurugram-based company in which Arora was a director and shareholder along with other HSRL-linked companies. It described Arora as the “beneficial owner and controller” of the company along with his family members.According to the ED, HSRL sold mobile phones worth Rs 157.12 crore to several domestic and foreign companies in the financial year 2023-24. The company alleged that, as the company’s CMD, Arora was responsible for managing its business, which involved illegal transactions.The ED also alleged that the company used “a network of shell entities” to create “fake” purchase invoices and show “bogus” sales and exports in connivance with its directors, employees and linked persons.The agency claimed that Arora was a “key person” involved in money laundering-related crimes, including fake billing, forgery, fraud and payments to shell companies.Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal condemned the ED’s actions, accusing the BJP-led Center of using investigative agencies as a “weapon” to “intimidate” opposition leaders into joining the party.(with PTI input)
