The Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday termed the Enforcement Directorate’s raids on top AAP and Delhi government functionaries as “politically motivated”.
On Tuesday, the ED had raided AAP treasurer and MP N.D. Gupta; Bibhav Kumar, private secretary to the Delhi chief minister; and the party’s national convener, Arvind Kejriwal; and former Delhi Jal Board member Shalabh Kumar in connection with a probe into an alleged scam in the board.
After the daylong raid, Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi on Tuesday night: “After a thorough investigation they found nothing. Not a single penny was found, no jewellery or any property of any kind, no papers.
“They raided Manish Sisodia’s house, nothing was found there. They raided Satyendra Jain’s place, nothing was found there. They raided Sanjay Singh’s place, nothing was found there.
“Can ED enter anyone’s house without any reason? Is this not sheer hooliganism?
“It is clear that all these raids and arrests are being done only out of political malice, to harass us, to crush AAP.”
On Wednesday, AAP minister Atishi told reporters: “During the 16-hour raid at the chief minister’s personal secretary’s residence, ED officials did not conduct any thorough search, nor did they provide any explanation regarding the purpose/case of the raid…. Their agenda is clearly to suppress dissent and eliminate key figures within the party.”
The ED on Wednesday said it had searched the premises in Delhi, Varanasi and Chandigarh on Tuesday in connection with a CBI FIR for alleged bribery in a contract, some of which “were alsopassed on as Election funds to AAP”. The ED said documents, digital material, valuables amounting to Rs 1.97 crore and foreign currency worth Rs 4 lakh were seized but it did not specify from whom.
A Delhi court has summoned Kejriwal on February 17 in the liquor policy case after he refused five ED summonses for not specifying whether he was an accused or a witness in the probe.