New Delhi: A special Prevention of Money-Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Gurugram on Sunday (May 10) sent Punjab industries minister Sanjeev Arora to the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED’s) custody for seven days, reported Press Trust of India.

Arora was arrested in relation to an alleged Rs 100-crore GST fraud-linked money laundering case. The court observed that the allegations against him are "very serious" and the agency needs to question him to unravel the money trail.

"Since the allegations against the accused are very serious and the ED is seeking to decode the money trail, role of the accused, vis-a-vis his persons/aides, who facilitated the offence of money laundering, so as to get to know as to how the accused persons were successful in generating proceeds of crime, in opinion of the court, a valid ground exists for the applicant for custodial interrogation of the accused," said Judge Narender Sura of the Sessions-cum-special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court.

Arora’s arrest by the central agency has been condemned by Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal who have accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government of using central agencies such as the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as "weapons" to scare opposition leaders into joining the BJP.

Earlier, Arora’s counsel alleged that a "false and frivolous" case was "cooked up" against the minister and that "no prima facie evidence" was collected by the investigating officer before his arrest.

After carrying out raids, the ED had on Saturday (May 9) picked up Arora, 62, from his official residence in Chandigarh.

The ED has also searched the premises of a Gurugram-based company named Hampton Sky Realty Ltd (HSRL), in which Arora was a director and shareholder.

The company issued a statement on Saturday, denying any wrongdoing and saying that has faith in the legal process and is fully cooperating with all statutory authorities and will continue to do so, reported PTI.

The central agency told the court that the company, during the 2023-24 financial year, sold mobile phones worth Rs 157.12 crore to several local and overseas entities. It alleged that as the CMD of the company, Arora was responsible for the conduct of the business of the company, which undertook alleged illicit transactions.

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