Chandigarh, Nov 2 — The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday conducted a search at the residence of former Punjab Industries Minister and senior Congress leader, Sunder Sham Arora, in Hoshiarpur town, triggering fresh attention around the former minister's business and financial affairs.
The action comes months after the Income Tax Department conducted an extensive search at Arora's residence in January.
According to preliminary information, a team of ED officials reached Arora's residence on Jodha Mal Road around 5 a.m. and cordoned off the premises before launching the search operation.
The officials were reportedly accompanied by security personnel.
Arora's counsel, H.S. Saini, said he had interacted with officials, who had arrived from the ED's Chandigarh office.
However, the agency officials had not disclosed the specific purpose of the search. They had sought certain documents, which were being provided to them, he said.
The ED had not issued any official statement detailing the reasons for the action or the nature of the investigation.
It was also not immediately known whether any documents or other material had been seized. The Income Tax operation began on January 28 and continued for nearly three days, lasting approximately 62 hours.
During the search, officials examined documents and questioned the former minister regarding properties and business-related matters linked to the Chandigarh-Mohali region.
The operation also reportedly involved scrutiny of documents relating to a real estate project and a company associated with the region. After the Income Tax search concluded, Arora had addressed the media and maintained that the action was linked to his son Prateek Arora's business activities and a residential project in Mohali.
He had claimed that no irregularities had been found during the search. The fresh ED operation has once again brought the former minister under the spotlight of central investigative agencies.
Arora, who represented Hoshiarpur in the Punjab Assembly and served as Industries and Commerce Minister in the previous Congress government, has faced investigations by the state Vigilance Bureau in the past.
In 2022, he was arrested in connection with allegations of offering a Rs 50-lakh bribe to a Vigilance Bureau official. He was also named in a case concerning the transfer of an industrial plot in Mohali.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court subsequently quashed the FIR in the industrial plot matter in December 2024.