GurugramIndia’s first Aam Aadmi Party minister jailed.
A money-laundering court gave the Enforcement Directorate 7 days to trace ₹102.5 crore in alleged fraudulent goods and services tax refunds via shell entities, the judge said.
Punjab’s Chief Minister called it political; Arora’s custody expires May 17.
Sources: MoneyControl, The Times of India
THE LAW THAT REVERSES THE BURDEN
The Prevention of Money Laundering Act (2002) is unusual among Indian criminal statutes: once the Enforcement Directorate files charges, the accused must prove the money is clean. In ordinary criminal law the state proves guilt; under PMLA Section 24, the accused proves innocence.
WHY THE ED IS DIFFERENT
The Enforcement Directorate is not police. It sits under the Finance Ministry and answers to the Revenue Secretary, not state governments. Its officers can summon, search, attach property, and arrest — and crucially, statements made to ED officers are admissible in court, unlike statements to police under the Evidence Act.
HOW GST FRAUD WORKS
India's GST runs on input tax credit: a business pays tax on inputs, charges tax on outputs, and claims the difference back. Shell entities exploit the gap by issuing invoices for goods that never moved — paper trails of fake supply chains generating real refund claims from the treasury.
THE CUSTODY CLOCK
Indian courts grant the ED custody in tranches — typically 7 to 14 days at a time, capped at 60 days total before the agency must file a charge sheet or grant default bail. Each extension is a fresh hearing where the agency must justify what it still needs to ask. The clock is the defendant's main leverage.
THE OPPOSITION-PROBE PATTERN
Between 2014 and 2024, roughly 95% of ED cases against politicians targeted opposition figures, according to data compiled by Indian Express. Conviction rates under PMLA remain under 5% — yet the process itself, with bail near-impossible and assets attachable pre-trial, functions as the punishment. AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain spent over a year in custody before bail.
THE CRORE
A crore is 10 million (1,00,00,000 in Indian notation). ₹102.5 crore is roughly $12 million at today's rupee. Indian financial reporting uses the lakh-crore system — a lakh-crore is a trillion rupees — which is why headline numbers in Indian press don't translate cleanly to Western frames.