This is a follow-up to the Enforcement Directorate searches at seven premises linked to Moga MLA Dr Amandeep Kaur Arora that began on 4 November. Read the earlier report

Chandigarh — Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Friday, 6 November accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of “weaponising central agencies” to intimidate opposition leaders, after Enforcement Directorate (ED) searches at premises linked to Moga MLA Dr Amandeep Kaur Arora ended following nearly 48 hours. The “found nothing” claim is AAP's allegation: the ED has not said whether it seized any documents or cash.

Cheema told a press conference in Chandigarh that the ED had conducted raids continuing for nearly 48 hours but, in his words, could not recover a single incriminating document or even a penny, and that the agency had once again given AAP leaders a certificate of being “kattar imaandar” (staunchly honest). He alleged — this is AAP's political allegation, not an established finding — that the ED, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Income Tax Department and even the Election Commission are being misused whenever elections approach in a state, to intimidate opposition leaders and build narratives against them.

Arora, who is AAP's Punjab women's wing president, sat beside Cheema and gave her own account. She said ED teams searched her residence, office and hospital, and the homes of her parents, brother and other relatives, with searches and questioning continuing for 42 to 48 hours. According to her account reported by The Punjab Standard, officials questioned her on matters ranging from her children's mark sheets and family property papers to hospital records. She alleged the process was stretched to harass her family mentally — again, her allegation, which the ED has not responded to in the reports cited here.

The inducement allegation

Cheema also alleged that the BJP was trying to win over AAP legislators with offers of ministerial berths and Rajya Sabha seats, and Arora said she had been offered positions, including a minister's post, and had turned them down. These are allegations made by Cheema and Arora at the press conference; no evidence for the offers was presented in the reports, and the BJP had not formally responded to these specific allegations as of the IANS report. Arora reaffirmed her loyalty to AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, saying no raid, pressure or inducement could make her leave.

What the ED case is about

The ED began the searches on Wednesday, 4 November at seven premises in Punjab — a development Awaaz Punjab reported that day. Officials have said the money-laundering probe concerns the alleged fraudulent acquisition of government land and misappropriation of public funds in Moga district, and is based on a June 2024 Punjab Police FIR (FIR No. 101, dated 16 June 2024, Dharamkot police station) over the alleged fraudulent mutation of land acquired for National Highway 754A and compensation paid to the wrong people. Arora was not named as an accused in that police complaint, and a search by itself does not establish any offence. The allegations in the underlying case remain unproved.

Why it matters

The press conference lands in the middle of Punjab's charged run-up to the 2027 Assembly elections: it comes days after three AAP MLAs resigned and joined the BJP, and six days after AAP re-nominated Arora from Moga in its first candidate list. AAP is framing the ED action as election-season targeting; what would test that framing is the ED's own account of the searches, which has still not been issued. Watch for any ED statement on seizures, and for any BJP response to the inducement allegation.