Financial probe agency Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday searched more than 10 premises linked to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s personal secretary Bibhav Kumar and some people connected to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as part of a money laundering probe.
The central probe agency also conducted searches at locations linked to former Delhi Jal Board (DJB) member Shalabh Kumar and at the residence of AAP treasurer ND Gupta, who is also the party’s Rajya Sabha member as a part of its probe.
The officials were also conducting raids at the residence of AAP treasurer ND Gupta, who is also the party’s Rajya Sabha member.
WHAT IS THE CASE BEING PROBED BY ED
The money laundering case pertains to the alleged irregularities in the tendering process of the Delhi Jal Board.
The ED has been probing the alleged irregularities in the DJB’s tendering process based on two cases, an FIR by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) of the Delhi government.
The CBI case alleged that officials of the DJB gave “undue advantage” to a firm while awarding it the tender for the supply, installation, testing and commissioning of electromagnetic flow metres.
It was alleged that the firm was awarded illegal contracts worth Rs 38 crore though it did not meet the technical eligibility criteria and obtained the bid by submitting forged documents.
The ED investigation so far has revealed that NKG infrastructure had obtained the contract by submitting fake documents and the chief engineer knew that the documents were forged.
The ED has already made two arrests in the matter.
WHAT AAP LEADERS SAY
The ED action comes on a day when Delhi cabinet minister Atishi had said she would do an “explosive expose” on the agency.
“I will be doing an explosive expose on ED at 10am tomorrow! Watch this space #BigEDExposebyAAP,” she said in a post on X on Monday.
Her Cabinet colleague, Saurabh Bharadwaj, also posted on X about it.
“Big expose on BJP’s Extortion Department (ED),” Bharadwaj said.
Atishi said, “I told yesterday that there would be a big expose on the ED. To stop this expose and to scare and silence us, the ED began raids against AAP leaders today.”
“We have been receiving information about others being raided as well. What is the ED up to? are getting to hear that many other leaders will also be raided. I would like to tell the BJP and PM Modi that AAP will not be scared by this. In the alleged liquor scam, too, ED made so many arrests but found nothing,” she added.
Responding to the ED raids, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said, “The way raids are being conducted and summons are being sent, the intention is to silence them (Opposition leaders). These are politically motivated actions and sponsored programmes by the BJP.”
(With inputs from Rupashree Nanda and Anshul Singh in New Delhi)
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