The Punjab and Haryana High Court has transferred AAP minister Sanjeev Arora’s petition against his ED arrest to another bench after the current one recused itself. Arora is charged as key conspirator in a large-scale fake iPhone export scheme, allegedly using Hampton Sky Realty and multiple shell firms to claim bogus GST benefits and launder money.
ON AUGUST 12, 2026, the Punjab and Haryana High Court heard the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Sanjeev Arora’s petition challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). As per reports, the High Court bench, headed by the Acting Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra, recused itself from the case, transferring it to another bench for further hearing. Meanwhile the money laundering case against the AAP leader is being heard at a Gurugram Special court.
At the time of his arrest in May 2026, Arora was serving as the Punjab Minister of Industry and Commerce. While he currently doesn’t hold any portfolios, he is still listed as a minister in the Bhagwant Mann cabinet.
On April 17, 2026, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), conducted raids to the premises linked to Sanjeev Arora in Ludhiana under Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). The ED was probing the ₹157-crore export scam involving fake purchases of mobile phones by shell companies in Delhi-NCR region. According to media reports, the raided locations included the Minister’s residence and other premises in Chandigarh and Delhi as well.
On May 9, 2026, ED arrested the Punjab Industries Minister following another round of raids carried out at his premises. This time, the raided locations included five sites linked to Arora’s company Hampton Sky Realty Limited under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The ED conducted the second round in relation the alleged fake mobile purchases worth ₹100 crore for claiming GST benefits. These phones were then exported to Dubai, but only on paper, making it look like clean money was received from international channels. This process is also called as “round-tripping” the alleged illegitimate funds from Dubai to India.
At the time of Arora’s arrest, the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann termed it a “political vendetta” with the motive to “engineer defections.” AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal echoed the sentiment that the raids were intended to break the party.
On July 6, 2026, the ED filed a chargesheet before the Gurugram Special Court, wherein they named Sanjeev Arora as the key accused of the fake iphone scam. The following day, the AAP MLA filed a regular bail plea in the Punjab High Court after his earlier bail request was rejected in Gurugram. However, the Punjab High Court deferred the case for a later hearing, asking the ED to file a detailed status report of the case.
Arora’s attorney further moved the Supreme Court, seeking bail on medical grounds. On June 30, 2026, the apex court also rejected his bail, noting that his regular bail petition was already pending in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
In the latest development, on August 12, 2026, the High Court bench hearing his petition challenging his arrest by the ED has recused itself from the case. Further hearing of the case in the Punjab and Haryana High Court will be presided over by a different bench. Sanjeev Arora remains in judicial custody till then.
The ED chargesheet filed before the Gurugram Special Court on July 6, 2026, named Sanjeev Arora as the key accused in the case. Along with Arora, Hampton Sky Realty Limited (HSRL), the company where the Punjab MLA is listed as the director, was also named as the co-accused. The ED probe alleges that Arora planned an elaborate scheme involving foreign trade exchanges to launder money through fake mobile phone exports.
HSRL allegedly ‘sold’ iPhones and other products to fake shell companies without actually exchanging any goods in the transaction, creating a “fictitious and operationally impossible supply chain.” The exports shown on paper were allegedly done to inflate values in order to claim GST benefits.
The chargesheet broke down the alleged fraud operation into three stages: i) creating an illegitimate buying trail of phones through fake bills and transactions; ii) forging export documents to present that these phones were traded to Dubai, also defrauding the customs system in the process; and iii) rerouting the funds back to the company through export remittances, GST refunds, and investments into collective entities and immovable assets.
HSRL reportedly bought Apple iPhones and other electronic devices from several shell companies such as M/s SK Enterprises, Mobile Style, US Enterprises, Anjani International, Maruti Nandan Telecom LLP, Global Traders, Worldwide Electronics, GMG Tradelink Pvt Ltd., Shree Lakshmi Enterprises, and others.
The ED recorded statements from HSRL staff, who confirmed that they received no physical receipt of mobile phones. They only handled invoices and electronic bills, which had no information about the actual movement of goods, or whether they even existed or not. The ED probe, at the time of filing the chargesheet, found that ₹102,99,21,974 were allegedly part of the fake export transactions. While HSRL was primarily a real estate business, the chargesheet also alleged that Sanjeev Arora was the signatory of the ICICI Bank account allocated for the mobile division of the company, making him the main accused in the case.
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