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PSPCL’s ₹2-cr security return to Sanjeev Arora-linked firm under ED gaze
According to officials, the ED has summoned CMD Basant Garg, director (commercial) Harsharan Kaur Trehan and two others
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued a notice to the chairman-cum-managing director (CMD) of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) and sought records in connection with release of nearly ₹2-crore bank guarantee to a company purportedly linked to Punjab minister Sanjeev Arora, who is under arrest in a money laundering case.
According to officials, the ED has summoned CMD Basant Garg, director (commercial) Harsharan Kaur Trehan and two others. The summons have been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, they said.
Arora, 62, was arrested by the ED on May 9 from his official residence in Chandigarh after raids were carried out against him in an alleged ₹100-crore GST fraud case.
The ED said that apart from Garg and Kaur, Hemant Sood, who runs a financial investment and stockbroker company named Findoc Finvest Private Ltd. in Ludhiana, and Jalandhar-based businessman and alleged bookie Chandra Shekhar Aggarwal, have been asked to depose before the central agency in Delhi on May 18. Sood and Aggarwal were searched by the ED as part of a foreign exchange “violation” case against them.
Garg confirmed that the corporation received communication from the ED seeking documents pertaining to the case. “The ED has sought some records and PSPCL will provide all the details to the agency,” Garg told HT.
The security deposit was allegedly refunded to the company by the state utility in February this year while Arora was the power minister. He also held the charge of industries and local bodies. Following Arora’s arrest, his portfolios were allocated to other ministers.
The agency is probing whether the security amount was cleared in violation of laid-down norms and if undue favour was extended to the firm because of the minister’s position in the government.
Senior officials confirmed that the ED asked PSPCL to furnish the entire file related to the decision, including approval notes, internal correspondence and any legal opinions. Investigators are examining whether the release of the security amount involved procedural irregularities or amounted to a conflict of interest.
The case pertains to the Hampton Court Business Park in Ludhiana. Ritesh Properties and Industries Limited (now Hampton) was sanctioned a 66 KV power connection against the submission of a bank guarantee of ₹1.97 crore as mandated by PSPCL regulations. Later, the firm sought conversion of the supply system to an 11 KV line. For this, it was asked to deposit a security deposit of ₹1.87 crore. The company was told that the earlier bank guarantee would be returned only upon submission of fresh security.
The company, however, sought release of the earlier guarantee in February 2026 and PSPCL issued a no-objection certificate the very next day.
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