NEW DELHI: Reacting over the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) notice to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday, lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party-led centre and said that the party’s “fight against corruption” won’t be stopped.
AAP MP Sanjay Singh alleged that Kejriwal had been summoned only because he tried to “expose” BJP’s corruption in the Delhi Assembly.
Addressing a press conference here on Friday, Sanjay Singh said, “The day CM Kejriwal said that the money of PM Modi’s friend, actually belongs to the Prime Minister himself, I had told him (Kejriwal) very that day that the next number is yours. Since that day, they (BJP) started conspiring against Kejriwal, and today CBI summoned him. They will do everything to hide PM’s corruption”.
“In Delhi Assembly, CM Kejriwal tried to make the nation understand through a very convincing and detailed way about the whole corruption. I would like to say, Modi Ji, you and your government are immersed in corruption from head to toe and Arvind Kejriwal’s fight will not stop with the CBI summons,” he added
The Rajya Sabha MP said that the centre has “conspired” to arrest Kejriwal on April 16, but this is not going to “stifle” the Delhi CM’s voice.
“His (Kejriwal) voice will reach every house, every village, every locality, that you (BJP) have kept thousands of crores of money in your friend’s company and have done corruption with him,” he said.
Sanjay Singh further added, “This is Aam Aami Party. This is Arvind Kejriwal, the man who gave the country, the model of education, health, water and electricity. He worked tirelessly for the people of Delhi. He even left his job as an Income Tax commissioner to work for the nation. He sat on 13 days of hunger strike against corruption”.
The AAP leader further added that the CBI notice is not going to stop the party’s “mission against corruption”.
“Kejriwal has faced many problems throughout his life, many investigations were done, raids were carried out, but neither the development in Delhi stopped, nor did our fight against corruption. So, this notice is not going to stop his mission against corruption. I would only say that no AAP minister, leader or party worker is going to get scared from the notice,” Sanjay Singh further said.
AAP’s remarks came after the CBI summoned Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on April 16 to question him in the excise policy case.
This development comes as former Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia continues to be in judicial custody in the same case.
Sisodia was arrested by ED and CBI in the ongoing investigation of a case related to alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy of GNCTD.
The CBI arrested Sisodia in the liquor policy case on February 26, 2023. Later on March 9, the ED arrested him, after hours of questioning at Tihar Jail.
In October, the ED had raided nearly three dozen locations in Delhi and Punjab following the arrest of Sameer Mahendru, Managing Director of Delhi’s Jor Bagh-based liquor distributor Indospirit Group, in the case and arrested him later. The CBI too filed its first charge sheet in the case early this week.
The ED and the CBI had alleged that irregularities were committed while modifying the Excise Policy, undue favours were extended to licence holders, the licence fee was waived or reduced and the L-1 licence was extended without the competent authority’s approval. The beneficiaries diverted “illegal” gains to the accused officials and made false entries in their books of account to evade detection.
As per the allegations, the Excise Department had decided to refund the Earnest Money Deposit of about Rs 30 crore to a successful tenderer against the set rules. Even though there was no enabling provision, a waiver on tendered licence fees was allowed from December 28, 2021, to January 27, 2022, due to COVID-19.
This allegedly caused a loss of Rs 144.36 crore to the exchequer, which has been instituted on a reference from the Union Home Ministry following a recommendation from Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena. (ANI)