New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday (October 7) raided Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora’s home.
News reports have said citing sources that the raid was in connection with the alleged illegal transfer of land.
According to sources cited by PTI, the financial crimes agency searched a total of 16 or 17 locations across Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Gurugram and Delhi in connection with the case, including Arora’s homes in Ludhiana and Gurugram.
Properties linked to realtor Hemant Sood and one Chandra Shekhar Agrawal were also searched in Jalandhar, the news agency said.
An ED source told the Indian Express that the raid at Arora’s Ludhiana home was in connection with land that the Punjab government had allotted to him.
“The land was allotted for an industrial project, but the agreement was breached, and the land was used for a residential project … The land was allotted to Ritesh Properties and Industries Limited, one of the companies owned by Arora,” the Express‘s source said.
Arora said he was unsure why the search was being conducted.
“I am a law abiding citizen, am not sure about the reason for search operation, will cooperate fully with agencies and make sure all their queries are answered,” the MP said on X.
An industrialist, Arora became a Rajya Sabha MP representing Punjab in March 2022 upon being nominated by the AAP, which won assembly elections in the state a month prior to that.
Senior AAP leader and former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said during a press conference that the raids on Arora’s homes were part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “modus operandi” because “he is unable to beat the AAP in elections, unable to stop Arvind Kejriwal, break Kejriwal’s courage or break Kejriwal’s team”.
“This is raid is not to investigate corruption. It is taking place because Arora is an AAP MP,” Sisodia alleged.
He also claimed the raids were connected to exit polls that forecast a loss for the BJP in the Haryana assembly election.
“The exit polls have created an atmosphere in the country and people once again feel they are seeing the BJP for the last time … the exit polls have said it is time for them [the BJP] to go,” Sisodia said, adding that the saffron party was trying to misuse investigative agencies before losing power.