rCabinet minister Sanjeev Arora on Tuesday moved the Punjab and Haryana high court challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), terming the action “illegal, “arbitrary and violative of constitutional safeguards”.
Arora, the promoter and erstwhile chairman of M/s Hampton Sky Realty Limited, formerly known as M/s Ritesh Properties and Industries Limited, was arrested by the ED on May 8. He has sought quashing of the May 9 remand order passed by the Special PMLA court in Gurugram, along with the grounds of arrest and all consequential proceedings arising out of the ED case.
Appearing for Arora, senior advocate Puneet Bali claimed that it is a case of political vendetta and there was no reason for the ED to arrest him. “There is a political vendetta battle which is happening in Punjab. Your lordships have protected two people, I am only on the other side. This is a case of political victimisation. I want to show two orders passed …recently where … (court) has safeguarded from political vendetta. I am seeking parity with them,” Bali submitted before the bench, referring to the protection granted in the cases of Rajya Sabha members Sandeep Pathak and Rajinder Gupta, who on April 24 quit the AAP and joined the BJP.
The court was told that the ED registered the enforcement case information report (ECIR) on May 5 on the basis of a first information report (FIR) lodged at Gurugram’s Udyog Vihar police station on April 18.
Earlier, searches were conducted between April 17 and April 19 at Arora’s Ludhiana residence, the Gurgaon house of his son Kavya Arora and the office of the HSRL. No incriminating document, digital device, currency, unaccounted asset or incriminating material was recovered against the petitioner during the course of the search proceedings, he claimed, adding that he has not been given a copy of the FIR registered by the ED on April 18.
The court was further told that after the searches in April, the ED provisionally attached bank accounts and immovable properties etc for 180 days under provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). The ED officials again reached the petitioner’s Chandigarh residence on May 9 and conducted search and seizures and he was later arrested the same day at 4pm.
The arrest was carried out in a “predetermined and mechanical manner”. 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 shown at 4 pm, with a detailed 17-page document, he added.
“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 claimed, adding that on this ground alone the arrest should be declared illegal.
Bali further claimed that the petitioner at all times has extended full and “complete co-operation” to the ED and there is “no allegation of absconding, non-cooperation, tampering with evidence or intimidation of witnesses at any stage”. The plea argues that the ED wrongly invoked the PMLA provisions on the basis of proceedings arising under FEMA.
“The impugned action is vitiated by mala fides, colourable exercise of power and is demonstrably tainted seeming to be politically motivated, against the petitioner who is a widely known, established and respected businessman with an unblemished commercial and philanthropic record spanning decades. He had been engaged in legitimate business activities since 1986 and has established multiple lawful enterprises across sectors including exports, textiles, real estate and manufacturing, all of which have remained fully compliant with the applicable statutory framework until he assumed office as cabinet minister, Punjab,” the plea said seeking court’s intervention.
The bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Sanjiv Berry deferred the hearing for May 14 for further arguments
