Punjab Cabinet Minister and Punjab AAP President Aman Arora has strongly denied to all allegations linked to the recent Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids in Chandigarh and Mohali calling the action a case of “political vendetta” and an attempt to deliberately defame him ahead of elections and while addressing a press conference after the ED named him in its statement connected to an alleged land scam and money laundering case Aman Arora said he was ready to quit politics if the agency could prove “even a one-rupee misappropriation” against him “If ED proves even one rupee of wrongdoing against me I will leave politics” Arora said while directly challenging the central agency during the media interaction.
The minister also explained what happened throughout Thursday after his name surfaced in the case and according to Arora he had started the day by visiting his mother who is currently admitted in the ICU and after that he attended departmental meetings as part of his official schedule and referring to the viral videos from Mohali showing bundles of cash allegedly being thrown from a high rise building during ED raids Arora said he was initially shocked like everyone else however he later realised that his name was being linked to the case because of his long friendship with builder Gaurav Dhir.
The ED had alleged in its statement that Gaurav Dhir of M/s Dhir Constructions is a “close associate” of Aman Arora and the agency claimed that Dhir through M/s Suncity Projects purchased a project from Altus Space Builders Pvt Ltd for Rs 130 crore by allegedly undervaluing it by more than Rs 170 crore and reacting to these allegations Arora admitted that Gaurav Dhir has been his close friend for the last 22 years however he clearly denied having any role or connection in Dhir’s business activities.
“My legs are not so weak that I will abandon my friends out of fear of an investigation” Arora said during the press conference and at the same time he maintained that friendship should not be treated as proof of involvement in any alleged financial wrongdoing and the Punjab minister also questioned the conduct of the ED and alleged that the agency intentionally tried to drag his name into the controversy and according to Arora the ED first issued a statement regarding the raids without mentioning Gaurav Dhir’s name and claimed that another statement was released around half an hour later with an added paragraph linking him to the matter politically.
Arora alleged that the move was aimed at damaging his public image and creating a political controversy and throwing an open challenge to the ED the AAP leader said the agency is free to summon him and even examine his phone records and also stated that if names such as Suresh Bajaj, Nitin Goyal or Ajay Sehgal are found saved in his contacts he would be willing to face any punishment.
The minister further accused central agencies of selectively targeting opposition leaders while ignoring other political connections and claimed that Suresh Bajaj had also donated Rs 2.5 lakh to the BJP during 2022-23 but the ED did not mention this detail in its statement and while targeting the BJP-led Central Government Arora alleged that agencies like the ED and CBI are being misused to pressure opposition leaders before elections and said such investigations are being used as political tools against leaders who oppose the ruling party at the Centre.
“I have been in politics since 1991 and have never demanded money from anyone” Arora said while defending himself against corruption allegations and further claims that the entire controversy is an attempt to silence leaders who are involved in what he described as “clean politics” and added that the people of Punjab are intelligent enough to understand the political situation and would not be misled easily meanwhile the ED investigation is still ongoing and the agency has alleged large-scale irregularities in Change of Land Use (CLU) permissions, fake consent letters and cheating of landowners and buyers in projects linked to Suntec City and Altus Space Builders Pvt Ltd.
The ED also stated that around Rs 1 crore cash was seized during the raids conducted at multiple locations in Chandigarh and Mohali and the agency said several documents were also recovered during the searches and further investigation is currently in progress so far no direct charges have been announced against Aman Arora, but the political controversy around the case has intensified after both the ED’s allegations and the minister’s strong public response.
