Will drag Kejriwal to jail by collar if he doesn’t resign, says Kapil Mishra

Sacked Delhi minister Kapil Mishra on Sunday accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of being involved in “massive” financial irregularities and routing funds through ‘shell companies’ — things he claimed Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had ‘full knowledge’ of.

Sacked Delhi minister Kapil Mishra on Sunday accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of being involved in “massive” financial irregularities and routing funds through ‘shell companies’ — things he claimed Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had ‘full knowledge’ of.

In a dramatic turn of events, Kapil Mishra fainted before he could share with the media documents he said proved his charges. (Sonu Mehta/HT PHOTO)

Demanding chief minister Kejriwal’s resignation, Mishra also said that he will file a complaint with the CBI on Monday in the matter. Mishra had last week filed a complaint against Kejriwal accusing him of receiving Rs 2 crore as bribe money.

“Yeh ab spasht hai ki Kejriwal bhrasht hai (Now it’s clear that Kejriwal is corrupt)... either he should resign, or I will drag him by his collar to Tihar jail,” Mishra said.

Talking to reporters at his residence, Mishra alleged that the AAP had received “crores of rupees” from 16 “shell companies” over the past three years, which converted black money into white. Mishra also alleged discrepancies in the money received by AAP and the amount it declared before the election commission.

Mishra alleged these shell companies are run by people close to Kejriwal and named two AAP legislators — Shiv Charan Goel and Naresh Yadav — who he claimed were running some of these companies.

Goel and Yadav both denied the charges and said that they will file a criminal and civil defamation case against Mishra.

Mishra, who has been on a hunger strike for the past five days to demand the foreign trip details of five AAP leaders, said that if Kejriwal didn’t step down he would “drag” the chief minister by his “collar” and take him to Tihar jail.

In a dramatic turn of events later, Mishra fainted before he could share with the media documents he said proved his charges.

Referring to one of the cases of alleged discrepancies, Mishra said AAP received Rs 90 lakh as donation from a person identified as Priya Bansal of Bengaluru for 2014-15 and 2015-16, but the tax payable on her income was merely Rs 4,000.

“In 2014-15, AAP had Rs 65,52,40,752 (Rs 65.5 crore) in its bank account, but the election commission was informed about only Rs 32,46,16,662 (Rs 32.4 crore) while the party put only Rs 27,38,71,611 (Rs 27.3 crore) in the public domain and told its volunteers it had no money,” Mishra said.

“All this happened with the knowledge of Arvind Kejriwal as these shell companies deposited money in AAP’s bank account on the same day and time in January 2014,” Mishra said, brandishing documents.

To prove his point, the sacked minister also alleged that postal addresses of directors of four of the 16 shell companies was similar while others were registered at a Jasola district centre where 187 companies, including eight foreign firms, were also registered.

“This is why I have been demanding the foreign travel details of five AAP leaders,” Mishra said.