Chandigarh, July 8 -- : The Punjab and Haryana high court on Tuesday sought a status report from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) regarding its money laundering investigation into Punjab minister Sanjeev Arora linked to an alleged Rs.100-crore GST fraud. The bench of Justice Aman Chaudhary sought a report by August 5 responding to the bail plea of the 62-year-old Punjab politician, who has been in custody since his arrest on May 9. The ED conducted searches at the Ludhiana residence of Arora, his son Kavya Arora's Gurugram home, and the office of Hampton Sky Realty Limited (HSRL) between April 17 and April 19. On April 18, an FIR was registered on the complaint of the ED under provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). The agency also investigates FEMA cases. Subsequently, the ED registered the enforcement case information report (ECIR) on May 5 to probe money laundering allegations. The trial court in Gurugram had dismissed his bail plea last month. Arora in his plea had argued that the prosecution case is "fundamentally" flawed. "The respondent (ED) has failed to establish the commission of a scheduled offence resulting in generation of proceeds of crime attributable to the petitioner. The material collected during investigation does not disclose the essential ingredients of an offence under Section 3 of the PMLA. No material has been produced demonstrating that the petitioner knowingly participated in the concealment, possession, acquisition, use or projection of any alleged proceeds of crime," the plea argues. It says that "extensive" searches were conducted by the ED at his various properties but "no incriminating document, unaccounted asset, cash, digital record or material" was recovered during any of the searches. Another ground cited for bail is health grounds. The petition says he is suffering from multiple serious medical ailments, type-II diabetes mellitus, hypertension and associated cardiac and nephrological complications. "The petitioner requires continuous medical monitoring and falls squarely within the category of 'sick or infirm' persons contemplated under the proviso to Section 45 of the PMLA," it says. It also alleges that the arrest of the petitioner is "politically motivated". Arora has also challenged his arrest in the case by ED in May. That petition is also pending adjudication before the HC....