‘Physically impossible’: Punjab Minister Sanjeev Arora challenges ED arrest, claims 17-page order was ‘pre-typed’

Appearing for Arora, Senior Advocate Puneet Bali with Advocates Vibhav Jain and Viren Sibal, contended that ED registered the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) on May 5 on the basis of a First Information Report (FIR) lodged at Gurgaon’s Udyog Vihar police station. Bali said the action followed searches conducted at the premises linked to the minister and Hampton Sky Realty Limited (HSRL), formerly known as Ritesh Properties and Industries Limited.

According to the plea, ED officials conducted searches between April 17 and April 19 at Arora’s Ludhiana residence, the Gurgaon residence of Kavya Arora and the office premises of HSRL. The petitioner’s counsel claimed that “no incriminating document, digital device, currency, unaccounted asset or incriminating material was recovered against the petitioner during the course of the search proceedings”.

The plea further states that immediately after the searches, ED provisionally attached bank accounts, demat holdings, and immovable properties for 180 days under provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).

As per the petition, ED officials again reached Arora’s Chandigarh residence on May 9 around 7.15 am for search and seizure proceedings and recorded his statement under Section 17(1)(f) of the PMLA. He was arrested later the same day at 4 pm and produced before the Special PMLA Court in Gurgaon at 11.20 pm, which remanded him to ED custody for 7 days.

‘ED wrongly invoked the PMLA provisions’

Senior Advocate Bali argued before the Punjab and Haryana High Court that the arrest was carried out in a “predetermined and mechanical manner”.

Referring to the petition, Bali submitted that the grounds of arrest were “demonstrably pre-typed and predetermined,” as the investigating officer allegedly perused Arora’s statement at 3.25 pm, and the arrest was effected at 4 pm, with a detailed 17-page document.

“It is physically impossible for any officer to have independently perused the statement, formed a genuine ‘reason to believe’, composed such a document, and executed arrest formalities within 35 minutes,” he said.

Arora’s counsel further relied upon the Supreme Court judgment in Directorate of Enforcement versus Subhash Sharma case, to contend that a “pre-typed arrest order renders the arrest completely illegal and in violation of Articles 21 and 22 of the Constitution”.

Bali also argued that the “entire investigation is documentary in nature” and that all relevant records are already in the agency’s possession, making custodial interrogation unnecessary.

The petition also contends that ED wrongly invoked the PMLA provisions on the basis of proceedings arising under FEMA. Arora’s plea stated, “FEMA, 1999 is not a scheduled offence under Section 2(1)(y) of the PMLA and cannot constitute the foundation of PMLA jurisdiction”.

Arora also claimed in the petition that he had “at all times extended full and complete co-operation” to the agency and there was “no allegation of absconding, non-cooperation, tampering with evidence or intimidation of witnesses at any stage”.

Arora said in his plea that he is a businessman, philanthropist, and public figure, and that he served as a Rajya Sabha MP from 2022 to 2025 before becoming a Cabinet minister in Punjab. He also said he had resigned from the day-to-day management of HSRL after assuming public office.