Chandigarh: Punjab Cabinet Minister Sanjeev Arora has approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court, challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate and seeking immediate release, calling his detention unlawful and a violation of constitutional protections.
Arora, who was taken into custody by the ED on May 9 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), has described the action as arbitrary and lacking legal basis. In his petition, he argued that the arrest was carried out without proper justification and breached safeguards guaranteed under the Constitution.
The plea also seeks suspension of the arrest order and cancellation of the remand granted by a special PMLA court in Gurugram, which had allowed the central agency to keep him in custody until May 16.
The matter is expected to be heard by a division bench headed by Chief Justice Sheel Nagu along with Justice Sanjiv Berry. Senior advocate Puneet Bali is likely to represent the minister during the proceedings.
In his petition, Arora stated that he had stepped down from the leadership of Hampton Sky Realty Limited after entering public office and had no role in the company’s daily operations thereafter.
He maintained that all business dealings under investigation were conducted through lawful channels, supported by official documentation including customs records, invoices, bank transaction proofs, GST filings and audited financial statements.
The minister further claimed that no incriminating material, digital evidence, unaccounted cash or suspicious assets were recovered during searches carried out by ED officials at his residence before his arrest.
According to the petition, the “grounds of arrest” did not clearly specify any direct evidence linking him to money laundering activities and failed to establish the essential ingredients required for action under the PMLA.
Arora has also argued that the case is entirely document-based, making custodial interrogation unnecessary since all relevant records were already in possession of the investigating agency.
He alleged that the arrest was executed in a mechanical manner and claimed the remand order was passed without sufficient judicial scrutiny of whether legal requirements under the PMLA had been properly met.
The case has drawn significant political attention in Punjab, with the court’s decision likely to have wider implications for the ongoing investigation.
