New Delhi:

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today conducted searches at the residence of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjeev Arora in Punjab’s Ludhiana. Officials said the raids were held in a money laundering probe case.

According to sources, Mr Arora, AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP, is accused of fraudulently acquiring land worth crores in the name of his company.

Reacting to the ED action, Mr Arora said he was “not sure” about the reason for the search operations.

“I am a law-abiding citizen, am not sure about the reason for the search operation, will cooperate fully with agencies and make sure all their queries are answered,” he wrote on X.

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.

— Sanjeev Arora (@MP_SanjeevArora) October 7, 2024

The probe agency conducted raids at 17 locations across Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Delhi, including at the residence of realtor Hemant Sood.

Senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia attacked the ED, saying they had raided many leaders of his party but “found nothing”.

“Since this morning, the ED is raiding the house of Aam Aadmi Party’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora. In the last two years, they have raided (former Delhi chief minister) Arvind Kejriwal’s house, my house, (AAP MP) Sanjay Singh’s house, (former Delhi minister) Satyendra Jain’s house… nothing was found anywhere,” he posted on X in Hindi.

Mr Sisodia was arrested by the CBI on February 26, 2023, in the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam. The ED then arrested him in the money laundering case stemming from the CBI FIR on March 9, 2023. He was granted bail in August this year.

Besides him, senior AAP leaders Arvind Kejriwal, Sanjay Singh, and Satyendar Jain have also faced the ED heat. While Mr Kejriwal and Mr Singh have been granted bail, Mr Jain, who was arrested by the probe agency in May 2022, remains in custody.

The Enforcement Directorate on Friday conducted raids at the residence of Sandip Ghosh, the former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.

A 31-year-old trainee doctor was found brutally raped and murdered at the Kolkata college last month, sparking nationwide outrage over the safety of doctors and women in the country.

The probe agency has conducted raids at 5-6 locations connected to Ghosh and his associates. The house of Prasun Chatterjee, the hospital’s data entry operator, was also searched by the ED. 

Ghosh was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday in connection with alleged irregularities at the hospital during his tenure. The West Bengal government suspended him as he was placed in police custody for eight days.

The former Principal has undergone two rounds of polygraph tests in connection with the rape-murder case after he was accused of negligence in the matter, including failing to file a police complaint when the woman’s body was found.

While he does not face charges in connection with the killing of the doctor, he does face non-bailable corruption charges.

The Indian Medical Association has also suspended his membership.

Dr Ghosh has also come under fire from the Supreme Court which questioned his role in the horrific crime, underlining, that the delay in filing a police case was unacceptable.

“Why was FIR lodged almost 14 hours after discovery of the body… the Principal of the college should have come straightaway and directed filing of the FIR. Who was he in touch with?” the court had asked.

So far, one arrest has been made in connection with the rape and murder of the doctor – a police volunteer called Sanjoy Roy.

The ruling Trinamool and the opposition BJP have hit out at each other over alleged inaction in the case.

On Thursday, the parents of the victim alleged that the police initially tried to suppress the case and close it without a thorough investigation.

“The police, from the very beginning, tried to hush up the case. We were not allowed to see the body and had to wait at the police station while the body was taken for post-mortem examinations,” the father said while addressing the protesters.

Jaipur:

Attacking the Central government on recent Enforcement Directorate raids in poll-bound Rajasthan, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said that the National Democratic Alliance government is “doing a crime” and the country “will never forgive them”.

“The NDA govt is doing a crime and the country will never forgive them…election is going on, ED keeps showing up at the houses of party leaders, keeping them (opposition leaders) busy throughout the day. BJP people are freely fighting the elections, whereas Congress leaders are being sent notices…,” Chief Minister Gehlot told reporters on Saturday in Delhi

“Even if they (BJP) lose elections in all 5 states, it won’t be surprising…ED has still not conveyed why they are raiding these political leaders and what they found so far…only BJP is talking, they have become ED’s spokesperson,” Mr Gehlot alleged.

ED on Thursday conducted raids at the residences of state Congress president Govind Singh Dotasara in Jaipur and Sikar. Additionally, a coaching centre allegedly linked to Dotasara was also searched.

The ED has also summoned Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s son, Vaibhav Gehlot, for questioning in a Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) case.

Mallikarjun Kharge told ANI, “They (BJP) want to spoil Gehlot’s election and demoralise and scare Congress leader. They do it always. We won’t be scared, we will fight strongly and will face this. Whatever they are doing is not right. We have been in politics for 50 years, but ED and IT raids during election time, have never happened. But today they are doing this to scare the CM. But one day they too will have to suffer.”

Congress leader Sachin Pilot expressed suspicion about the “timing,” “objective,” and “intent” behind the raids conducted by central government agencies in Rajasthan, suggesting that the BJP might be feeling vulnerable ahead of the Rajasthan assembly elections.

Mr Pilot criticized the BJP for specifically targeting Congress leaders without factual evidence, accusing them of attempting to use central agencies to influence the election outcome.

Polling for all 200 seats in the Rajasthan Assembly will be held on November 25 and the counting of votes will be held on December 3.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

In a strong reaction to the Enforcement Directorate searches on premises linked to the Rajasthan Congress President and an MLA, AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj has accused the BJP government at the centre of turning all of the country’s institutions into a joke.

“People are not even surprised anymore. They say even before such raids happen that elections are approaching in Rajasthan, so there will be ED action against parties there. Elections will also be held in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh. The BJP is frustrated in every way and it feels that people’s trust in the party is decreasing,” Mr Bharadwaj, who is also a minister in the Delhi government, said on Thursday. 

Speaking in Hindi, the minister alleged that the BJP is trying to get its opponents on the back foot and scare them, and that is why all these investigations are happening. 

“If a government has 150 departments, there can be 150 alleged scams. All you have to do is ask one of your people to file a complaint. That could be linked to the ration system, coal or recruitment. It becomes an alleged scam. Then they start calling it a scam and arresting the accused. Then they say ‘look, these people are corrupt’,” Mr Bharadwaj said.

He alleged that this has become a joke now and while no action is being taken on actual scams, agencies are being used to scare, trouble and intimidate the opposition. “The people are watching. They are understanding everything,” said the minister. 

Earlier in the day, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s son, Vaibhav Gehlot, was also summoned by the ED in connection with alleged violations of foreign exchange rules. Dismissing the allegations against his son, who has been asked to appear before the agency in Jaipur or Delhi on Friday, the chief minister said central agencies have lost all credibility. 

The agency also conducted searches on the premises of Rajasthan Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra and Independent MLA and Congress candidate Omprakash Hudla in connection with a 2022 paper leak case.

Reacting to Ashok Gehlot’s claims, BJP Rajasthan president CP Joshi said Congress leaders do not need to be afraid of the ED if they are clean.