GURUGRAM, May 10: A special PMLA court in Gurugram on Sunday remanded Punjab Industries Minister Sanjeev Arora in Enforcement Directorate’s custody for a week in an alleged Rs 100-crore GST fraud-linked money laundering case, observing that the allegations against him are “very serious” and the agency needs to question him to unravel the money trail.
The lawyer for Arora, a senior leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab, 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.
Arora, 62, was taken into custody by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday evening at his official residence in Chandigarh by the following raids by the agency against him.
The central agency also searched the premises of a Gurugram-based company named Hampton Sky Realty Ltd (HSRL), in which Arora was a director and shareholder. In a statement on Saturday, the company denied any wrongdoing. It said it has faith in the legal process and is fully cooperating with all statutory authorities and will continue to do so.
Arora was brought by agency officials to Gurugram from Chandigarh by road overnight and was produced in the Sessions-cum-special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court of Judge Narender Sura.
The ED has alleged that its case was against HSRL, linked entities and Arora, who was the “beneficial owner and controller” of the company along with his family members.
The company, during the 2023-24 financial year, sold mobile phones worth Rs 157.12 crore to several local and overseas entities, and, as the CMD of the company, Arora was responsible for the conduct of the business of the company, which undertook alleged illicit transactions, the ED told the court.
It alleged that the company, in connivance with its directors, employees and linked persons, used “a network of shell entities” to generate “fake” purchase invoices and used them to show “bogus” sales and exports.
The agency claimed the minister was the “key person” involved in the offence of money laundering by bogus billing, fraud, forgery and payment to shell entities.
“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,” Judge Sura said in his order.
The order said the ED “has a good and sufficient reason” to claim the custody of Arora for interrogation and it will be “just and proper” that he is remanded to the agency’s custody for 7 days.
The agency had sought his remand for ten days. (PTI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel
