New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate on Friday carried out searches at multiple locations linked to Punjab minister Sanjeev Arora as part of an ongoing investigation under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
Officials said the operation began early in the day and covered 13 premises across Gurugram, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, and Jalandhar. The searches included residential and business properties associated with Arora and his close associates.
The probe also extends to Arora’s son, Kavya Arora, who is the managing director of Hampton Sky Realty Ltd, a company involved in major real estate and infrastructure projects in Punjab. Authorities conducted searches at his premises as well.
Investigators are examining alleged financial irregularities linked to the firm, including suspected illegal land-use changes, inflated sales bookings to influence share valuations, insider trading, and the routing of funds from the United Arab Emirates back into India.
Officials further stated that a Jalandhar-based businessman, Chandra Sekhar Aggarwal, is also under scrutiny for alleged involvement in betting and hawala operations. It is suspected that proceeds generated from such activities were channelled into real estate investments.
According to the agency, Arora is also being examined over allegations of providing protection to illegal betting networks and facilitating the conversion of unaccounted money into legitimate investments through multiple business entities.
Additionally, some of his companies are under the scanner for allegedly generating fake export bills and showing bogus purchases through non-existent GST entities as part of the suspected financial misconduct.