Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, whose ED custody was extended till April 1, on Thursday himself made submissions in a court here during the hearing in the alleged excise policy case, and alleged that the federal agency`s objective is to crush AAP.
Kejriwal also alleged that a smoke screen of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) being corrupt has been created before the nation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The ED produced him in the court of Special Judge Kaveri Baweja and sought a seven-day further custody, arguing that he needed to be confronted with some people linked with the case. The court extended his custodial interrogation till April 1.
Shortly after the proceedings started, the AAP national convener made the submissions in Hindi after obtaining permission from the court even though his lawyers were present there.
“So far, the CBI has filed 31,000 pages in this case in the court and 294 witnesses have been examined in this case. The ED has investigated 162 people and filed a 25,000-page report so far. By combining all these documents and reports, why have I been arrested? My name figures only in four statements,” he said in a jam-packed courtroom.
Elaborating on the four statements mentioning his name, Kejriwal said C Arvind, former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia`s secretary, gave a statement. According to it, Sisodia handed over some excise policy-related documents to C Arvind in his (Kejriwal`s) presence, in the chief minister`s official residence.
“He has only stated that Manish Sisodia gave some documents to C Arvind. Madam, several MLAs, ministers and dignitaries come with their secretaries to my house.
“They do side-talks and hand over documents to each other. How do I know who is giving what to whom? Is this statement a sufficient reason to arrest the sitting chief minister?” Kejriwal said.
Giving details of the second statement in which his name appears, Kejriwal said Magunta Srinivas Reddy is an MP from (Andhra Pradesh chief minister) Jagan Mohan Reddy`s party (YSRCP).
“Magunta Srinivas Reddy came to my office at 4.30 pm on March 16, 2021. He had sent an e-mail to my office that he is an MP and wanted to meet me.
“My office gave him an appointment to meet me after 10 days. He came over and said I want to open my family`s charitable trust in Delhi. I told him that land does not come under us, it comes under the Lieutenant Governor (LG),” Kejriwal said.
The Delhi chief minister asked Magunta Srinivas Reddy to give him the letter which he will forward to the lieutenant governor.
He said on September 16, 2022, Reddy`s house was raided and the ED asked him whether he had met Kejriwal. When Reddy replied in the affirmative, saying his meeting was about seeking land for his family`s trust, the ED was “not happy” and later the agency arrested his son in February 2023.
“When the son remains arrested for five months, the father changes his statement. He changed his statement on July 16, 2023, and his son was released on July 18. Mission accomplished. That means the only mission of the ED was to get me trapped,” Kejriwal said.
The Delhi chief minister further said Magunta Srinivas Reddy gave three statements to the agency but only one was considered.
“Why the only statement that is against Kejriwal has been included in the 25,000 pages of ED report and the other two statements were not considered?All the three statements should have been brought to the notice of the court, so that it could decide the truth in the case,” he said.
About the statement of the third person, Raghav Magunta, the Delhi chief minister said out his total seven statements, six were not against him (Kejriwal). But as soon as he gave the seventh statement against him, Magunta was released from the jail.
“The six statements which are not against me have not been brought on record,” the chief minister said.
He said Sarath Chandra Reddy, who was the fourth person to make a statement mentioning his name, stated nothing against the chief minister in his two statements before his arrest and nine statements after being arrested.
“After he was kept in jail for six months, he (Sarath Chandra Reddy) finally succumbed and gave another statement on April 25, 2023.The only thing he said against me was that he had gone to meet the CM along with Vijay Nair,” he said.
Kejriwal asked the judge whether these four statements are enough to arrest a sitting chief minister.
He claimed that there is no evidence to the ED`s claims that AAP has taken Rs 100 crore. The actual liquor excise policy scam started after the beginning of the ED investigation, he said.
“The ED investigation had two main motives — first was to crush the Aam Aadmi Party and to declare it corrupt,” he said.
He said the second motive was to form a smoke screen in front of the nation where they could declare the AAP as corrupt.
Without mentioning the BJP or the Centre, he alleged that they wanted to make the AAP an accused in excise policy scam and easily operate their electoral bond scam behind all of this. “They were extorting huge funds in the name of electoral bonds,” he added.
ASG S V Raju countered Kejriwal and his counsel, saying, “Persons who have later named him have disclosed reasons to do so. It is in the papers. All these submissions have been made before the Delhi high court.”
The ASG further said the claim about papers factoring him being with the agency was “a figment of his imagination”.
“He is the person in-charge of affairs of the AAP which has received the bribe amounts used in the Goa elections. We have witnesses to say the money came through hawala from the South Group. There is a chain. He has selectively not talked about that chain,” the ASG said.
The ED officials reacting to Kejriwal`s statement said they were investigating the case under the lawful procedures of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the agency has been duly filing charge sheets before the courts.
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