Punjab Cabinet Minister Aman Arora on Friday accused the Enforcement Directorate (ED) of defaming him by involving his name in its statement on a raid operation conducted on Thursday at multiple locations in Punjab and Chandigarh. Arora, who is also the Punjab AAP president, asked ED to call him for questioning if it has any suspicion.
Raids on Thursday were conducted by the central agency as part of a money laundering investigation against two realty groups on charges of fraudulent change of land use and duping investors. The agency raided about a dozen locations in Mohali (SAS Nagar) and Chandigarh linked to the Suntec City project (developed by ICHBS or Indian Cooperative Housing Building Society), its promoter Ajay Sehgal, ABS Townships, Altus Space Builders, Dhir Constructions, and associates under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The agency claimed that a businessman named Gaurav Dhir of Dhir Constructions purchased the Altus project through its entity Suncity Projects for Rs 130 crore, by "undervaluing" the project cost. They claimed Dhir was a "close associate" of senior cabinet minister Aman Arora.
Speaking to the media, Arora said he was surprised that his name was being linked to the ED's raid operation. He said in its first statement, the ED neither took his name nor Gaurav Dhir’s. But after half-an-hour, the ED issued another statement in which, while the rest of everything remained same but it was mentioned that "Gaurav Dhir is a close associate of one of the high ranking AAP leaders Aman Arora".
"My name was added (in the statement) only just to defame me," claimed Arora, while demanding a probe into it.
Arora sought to clarify that he heard the names of Suresh Kumar Bajaj, Ajay Sehgal and Nitin Gohal, whose premises were raided, for the first time.
However, he said Gaurav Dhir was more than a brother for him and both have been friend for the past 22-23 years. He further said that he has been in politics since 1991 and claimed that he has never been involved in any wrong work. Lashing out at the BJP, Arora said it the modus operandi of the BJP to misuse central agencies in poll-bound states to arm twist rival party leaders and prepare its political ground.
Raising question over the ED, Arora said the central agency had come to know that Dhir was his friend but it failed to find that Suresh Bajaj had given Rs 2.50 lakh of donation to the BJP in 2023-24.
Why it was not mentioned in its statement by the ED, Arora questioned.
The Cabinet minister claimed that though Dhir was his friend but he had never any business dealing with him.
Arora said he asked the ED, "tell me, I will come to you and carry out a probe." He also offered to hand over his mobile phone for a forensic examination.
"If they say that they could target me by involving a person who is doing clean business, then I feel that such politics in not in Punjab's interest," said Arora.
On Thursday, Arora had slammed the BJP, alleging that its "politics of goondagardi" (hooliganism) would never succeed in the state and said the AAP leaders were not afraid of central agencies or threats "orchestrated to arm-twist opposition voices into submission."
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