Chandigarh

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday slammed the Modi government for "harassing traders" after the ED conducted raids in a money laundering probe involving Punjab Minister Sanjeev Arora.

"Hindu traders from Punjab are the backbone of our state's economic development and have made a significant contribution to building 'Rangla Punjab'," Mann said in a post on X in Hindi.

Attacking the BJP, whom the AAP often calls "ED party", Mann said, "The ED party wants to harass our traders by misusing central agencies. By doing so, they are attempting to coerce them into joining their fold through political pressure - something Punjabis will absolutely not tolerate. We stand with our traders".

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday conducted fresh searches in a money laundering investigation involving Arora and some others in an alleged Rs 100 crore GST fraud case linked to the sale of mobile phones.

They said about six premises in Jalandhar and Ludhiana in Punjab, and Bareilly and Noida in Uttar Pradesh are being searched.

Arora, 62, was arrested by the central agency last month following day-long searches at his official residence in Chandigarh. He is currently in judicial custody.

He was the minister for Power, Industry and Commerce. After his arrest, the Punjab government had allocated his portfolios to other ministers.

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Arora is a prominent Hindu face for the AAP in Punjab and is a Ludhiana-based industrialist.