Punjab minister Sanjeev Arora sent to judicial custody in ₹100 crore ED case; AAP's Deepak Singla Arrested In Scam Case

Punjab minister and AAP leader Sanjeev Arora was on Monday, May 18, sent to judicial custody till June 1 by a Gurugram court in connection with the alleged ₹100 million money laundering case, Live Law reported.

Arora, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Chandigarh on May 9, was produced before the court after his remand was terminated.

Arora was booked va ₹100 million GST fraud linked to a company he used to run. He approached the High Court challenging his arrest as part of the money laundering scheme.

Arora’s ED remand was set to expire on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Punjab and Haryana High Court was scheduled to hear Arora’s plea challenging his detention on Monday.

Arora was arrested after a day-long search of his four premises, including his residence, his associated entities and one office space belonging to Hampton Sky Realty Limited (HSRL), which is also under the agency’s watch in the case.

The ED’s action was part of the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) it recorded on May 5 this year.

ED arrests AAP leader Deepak Singla

The Enforcement Directorate on Monday arrested AAP leader Deepak Singla in an alleged money laundering case following searches in Delhi and Goa, officials told news agency PTI.

Earlier in the day, the ED had raided Singla’s residence in Delhi as part of the investigation into the alleged fraud case.

Singla was the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate from Vishwas Nagar Assembly in Delhi. In 2024, the ED was also raided as part of the investigation.

The money laundering case is the result of a bank loan fraud.

Singla was arrested after searches led to the alleged recovery of incriminating documents, officials said.

Atishi lashes out at BJP

Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Delhi Assembly and AAP MLA Atishi has slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for trying to “obtain organizational data” of her party after searches by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) were conducted at AAP leader Deepak Singla’s residence in Goa.

In a post on X, Atishi said the search comes amid what she described as AAP’s “growing popularity” in Goa, alleging that the BJP was trying to intimidate party workers through enforcement actions.

“With the growing popularity of Aam Aadmi Party in Goa, BJP’s loyal foot soldier, ED has also been sent here! ED raid on AAP Goa co-commander Deepak Singla’s residence and also some volunteers’ house in Goa since early morning. This is an attempt not only by BJP but also by all our organizational data to scare our volunteers!” he wrote in the post.

In a separate video message shared on X, she claimed that the ED raided AAP leader Sanjeev Arora’s residence after he refused to join the BJP, while those who had joined the party, including former AAP MP Ashok Mittal, were spared.

“The whole country has seen how BJP used ED against TMC in Bengal elections. IPAC, which fought for TMC in elections, sent workers to jail. Through ED, all the data of TMC organization was stolen before elections. After elections, everyone was released from jail,” she said.

“After the Bengal elections, there was another attack on Punjab. In Punjab, raids were launched on the houses of ordinary party leaders. No action was taken against the BJP leaders who ran away. But leaders like Sanjeev Arora, who refused to join the BJP, were sent to jail. And now, after Punjab, Goa is the next target,” she said in a video message.

She questioned the “raids” on the residences of Deepak Singla and other party workers involved in the AAP Goa leadership, describing it as an attempt by the BJP to trivialize AAP in Goa, amid the party’s “growing popularity”.