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According to officials, raids were carried out at multiple locations in Ludhiana and other parts of the state.
ED has conducted a raid at the residence of Punjab Cabinet Minister Sanjeev Arora. (IANS)
The Enforcement Directorate is conducting searches in the residences and business premises of Punjab MLA and Minister Sanjeev Arora, his business partners Hemanth Sood and Chandrasekhar Aggarwal.
According to officials, raids were carried out at multiple locations in Ludhiana and other parts of the state.
Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj reacted to the Enforcement Directorate’s raids, alleging a political motive behind the action.
In a post on X, he said, “ED has now raided Punjab Minister Sanjiv Arora. This is a clear pattern. This is how BJP starts its preperation for a state election.”
Responding to the ED raids at his premises, Arora stated that he would fully cooperate with the investigation.
In a post on X, he said, “An action by the Enforcement Directorate took place at my premises. As a responsible citizen, I will fully cooperate with the agencies, and I am confident that the truth will prevail.”
Sanjeev Arora is the promoter of company M/s Hampton Sky Realty Ltd (formerly M/s Ritesh Properties and Industries Ltd) which is into large scale real estate and infra projects in Punjab. His son Kavya Arora is presently the MD of the company and is also being searched.
Sanjeev Arora’s company is under scanner for multiple irregularities such as illegal change of land use in Punjab, booking fraudulent and over inflated sales to inflate share prices, insider trading scams in stock market, round-tripping of ill-gotten funds and illegal betting money from UAE to India and so on, ED said.
Hemanth Sood runs a financial investment and stock broker company M/s Findoc Finvest Private Limited in Ludhiana, Gurgaon and Gujarat GIFT city. He partnered with Sanjeev Arora and assisted him in round tripping of his ill-gotten funds from UAE and also in generating proceeds of crime from insider trading. Hemant Sood is also alleged to have assisted many more betting operators and hawala operators in laundering the crime money and round tripping the same into India through FPI route.
Chandra Sekahr Aggarwal, a Jalandhar based businessman, originally started as a cricket bookie and later expanded his operations to hawala operations and started a bookie and betting platform by name Khiladi book and cheated thousands of poor people through betting platforms. His crime proceeds generated and parked in UAE have also been brought back into India through Findoc and invested in real estate through Sanjeev Arora.
According to the ED, Sanjeev Arora is suspected to have been giving protection to the illegal betting operators in Punjab, through his political influence, to get a share of their profits and also using his companies and multiple entry operators to convert their unaccounted money into legitimate investments and thereby actively assisting in money laundering.
Sanjeev Arora’s companies are also under scanner for booking multiple fake export bills and roundtripping funds from UAE and also booking fake purchases from non existing GST entities, the national investigation agency added.
Arora, an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader, had previously faced ED action in 2024. At that time, the agency alleged that companies associated with him and other entities caused losses to the state exchequer and generated significant proceeds of crime through the alleged misuse of industrial land for residential projects.
(With inputs from agencies)
Punjab, India, India
April 17, 2026, 10:40 IST
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