The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday arrested Punjab industries minister Sanjeev Arora in connection with an ongoing ₹100-crore money laundering case linked to alleged fraudulent Goods and Services Tax (GST) transactions, sources said.

Arora’s arrest came after a daylong search operation carried out across multiple locations linked to him and his business entities. The raids were conducted under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Sources said searches were conducted at five premises in Delhi, Gurgaon and Chandigarh, including Arora’s residence and the office premises of Hampton Sky Realty Limited — promoted by Arora’s family.

“The probe relates to fake GST purchases of mobile phones worth more than ₹100 crore by Arora through his company and subsequent exports allegedly used to round-trip illegitimate funds from Dubai to India. Fake GST purchase bills were allegedly obtained from non-existent firms in Delhi to claim fraudulent input tax credit,” an ED official said.

Arora is considered one of the most powerful ministers in the Bhagwant Mann Cabinet and is widely seen as the key link between the AAP government and the state’s industrialists.

AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal told reporters here: “Since this morning, ED raids have been going on at the house of Sanjeev Arora, minister in the AAP-led Punjab government... This is the second ED raid at Sanjeev Arora’s premises within the last one month. ED came once on April 17 as well. They raided all his premises in Gurugram, Ludhiana and Delhi. The raids continued for three days.”

He added: “At the same time, raids were conducted at Ashok Mittal’s (Rajya Sabha MP who recently defected from AAP to BJP) premises too. Raids continued there for three days. After those three days, Ashok Mittal joined the BJP. The raids stopped and the matter was settled. Sanjeev Arora did not join the BJP. Immense pressure was put on him to join the BJP. Had he joined the BJP, ED would not have raided today.”

“Aurangzeb committed immense atrocities against the people of Punjab. PM Modi too is committing immense atrocities against the people of Punjab. But at that time, our Guru Sahibs faced Aurangzeb’s oppression and injustice and made sacrifices. Inspired by their sacrifices, now the people of Punjab will stand up against PM Modi’s oppression and injustice and free the entire country from the injustice and oppression of Modi Raj,” Kejriwal said.