ED at Punjab minister’s door: Who is AAP leader Sanjeev Arora, state’s richest politician?

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted searches at the house and other properties of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader, industrialist-turned-politician, and Punjab Cabinet minister Sanjeev Arora in Ludhiana on Friday. This is the second time that the ED raided Arora’s properties, with previous such raids conducted on October 7, 2024, for the alleged “illegal change of land use and other irregularities” by his company M/S Hampton Sky Realty Limited (formerly Ritesh Industries and Properties Limited (RPIL) that has business interests in real estate, commercial and industrial housing, retail, hospitality, clothing and medical projects. This came two days after the ED carried out searches in Jalandhar at the properties of AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Ashok Kumar Mittal, who is the founder-chancellor of Lovely Professional University (LPU). Arora was nominated to the Rajya Sabha from Punjab in 2022, but resigned from the Upper House in 2025 to contest the bypoll from the upscale Ludhiana West constituency following the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Gogi. Arora won and was eventually appointed to the state Cabinet and given the portfolios of industry and commerce, local bodies, and power. A real estate baron, Arora is the richest politician in Punjab, cutting across party lines, with individual assets worth Rs 278 crore, according to the election affidavit filed during the bypoll. If his wife Sandhya Arora’s assets are included, the couple’s combined wealth stands at Rs 302.11 crore. “Good morning! An action by the Enforcement Directorate took place at my premises. As a responsible citizen, I will fully cooperate with the agencies, and I am confident the truth will prevail,” Arora posted on X on Friday morning. His party chief and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal pointed out this was the second raid at an AAP leader’s home in three days, posting on X, “Will the Prime Minister tell us how much black money has been recovered from the countless raids conducted so far at the residences of AAP leaders? Not even a single rupee? The entire country is watching how you are indulging in petty politics just for the sake of power.” Arora was the chairman-cum-managing director of M/S Hampton Sky Realty Limited that, among other things, owns “Hampton Homes,” a luxury residential housing project in Ludhiana. After he became a Cabinet minister, Arora resigned from all posts in his company and right other associated firms to give “undivided attention to the public office.” Now his son Kavya Arora is the managing director and his wife Sandhya is the director of the firm. The company has also developed Hampton Court Business Park, a sprawling industrial park spread over 43 acres in Ludhiana. The other projects include: Narayana e-Techno School, a CBSE-affiliated school, Hampton Narayana Super-Speciality Hospital, Hampton Plaza commercial complex, Hampton Estates (a commercial project coming up in Ludhiana), Hampton Farms (farmhouse project on 30 acres of land), and Hampton Hotels, among others. Despite his Ludhiana business links, Arora and his family mostly resided in Gurgaon in Haryana before his election. Since being elected, he has maintained a house in his constituency. Arora also runs the Krishna Pran Breast Cancer Charitable Trust, an NGO for cancer patients in memory of his parents, who died of cancer-related ailments. Arora set up RPIL in 1986, starting with garment manufacturing. He launched an export-oriented apparel brand, Catalina Bay, which was mostly exported to the US. In 2006, the company diversified into real estate and two years later, Arora launched a clothing brand for women called “Femella”. In 2019, Arora also ventured into the non-ferrous metal business with Teneron Limited, a collaboration with Suzuki Motors in its Gujarat plant under the Government’s Make-in-India scheme. The ED probe against Arora and his business partners is in connection with the alleged “change of land use fraud case”. After raiding premises linked to Arora in Ludhiana, Delhi, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, and Gurgaon on October 7, 2024, the central agency issued a press release in which it said Hampton Sky Realty “concealed facts, misused industrial land for residential purposes and caused huge loss to the Punjab government”. The raids were held at 17 different business and residential premises related to Arora and other realtors, including Ludhiana-based Hemant Sood, Pardeep Kumar Aggarwal, and Gurmeet Singh, Jalandhar-based Chander Shekhar Aggarwal, and M/s Royal Industries Ltd (RIL). The ED took the action based on a criminal complaint registered against RPIL in a Ludhiana court and an FIR that the Ludhiana Police registered against RIL. The agency alleged that “Hampton Sky Realty and RIL were allotted industrial land by the Punjab Government with certain conditions to promote industries, but RIL had sold the allotted land by breaching the conditions of allotment”. Hampton Sky Realty had also developed a residential project and a business park on such land without permission and had concealed material facts at the time of seeking the government’s permission. Divya Goyal is ... Read More