Chandigarh, May 15 -- Punjab cabinet minister Sanjeev Arora on Thursday alleged before the high court that despite being a minister and a businessman of repute, he is being treated like a "criminal" by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

"I am a minister. The transactions are of 2023-24, when I was nothing but a businessman. I'm not a person from across the border or into any illegal trade. Can I run away?" Arora's counsel, senior advocate Puneet Bali told the high court bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Sanjiv Berry during the resumed hearing of a plea filed by him challenging his arrest by the ED on May 9 and remand order passed by a PMLA court the same day.

"The grounds of arrest they have taken are that I was evasive in my...