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AAP troubles mount: Rajya Sabha MP ND Gupta, Arvind Kejriwal's PA's premises raided by ED
The agency has searched 10 locations linked to Arvind Kejriwal's personal secretary as part of its money laundering probe.
New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday raided premises linked to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's personal secretary and others connected to the Aam Aadmi Party. The agency has searched at 10 locations linked to the personal secretary as part of its money laundering probe in the Delhi Jal Board case.
The agency searched the premises linked to Kejriwal's personal secretary Bibhav Kumar, Rajya Sabha member ND Gupta and others.
Reacting to the raids, AAP leader Atishi claimed the BJP government is trying to scare its leaders.
“Yesterday, I had said that I will be doing an 'explosive exposé' on ED at 10 am today. To stop this exposé and scare the AAP, ED has been conducting raids since 7 am in the morning against AAP leaders and workers. Raids are underway at the residences of our leader ND Gupta and the PA of CM Arvind Kejriwal. There are reports that the ED will conduct raids throughout the day against AAP leaders. The BJP-led central government is trying to scare the AAP using the probe agencies,” she was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
What are Enforcement Directorate's allegations?
In connection with the case, the agency arrested the former chief engineer of the Jal board under the PMLA law last month. They also arrested a businessman under similar charges.
Per the agency, Jagdish Kumar Arora, who was the chief engineer of the Delhi Jal Board at the time, allegedly awarded a contract for the supply, installation, testing and commissioning of electromagnetic flow meters to NKG Infrastructure Ltd. for a total cost of ₹38 crore, despite the company not meeting the technical eligibility criteria. It was revealed during ED's investigation that NKG Infrastructure Ltd. secured the bid by submitting forged or false documents.
Further investigation revealed that NKG Infrastructure Ltd. subcontracted the work to Integral Screws Ltd., a firm owned by Anil Kumar Aggarwal. Upon receiving funds, Aggarwal allegedly transferred around ₹3 crore as a bribe to Jagdish Kumar Arora through various means, including cash and bank transactions. It was also discovered that bank accounts belonging to associates and relatives of Arora were utilised to transfer bribe amounts.
Also read: MLA poaching claim: Kejriwal's ‘nautanki’ attack on Delhi Police's ‘political bosses’
This comes days after the Enforcement Directorate moved a Delhi court against Kejriwal for skipping the summons for the fifth time in the Delhi excise policy case.
The agency filed a fresh complaint under Section 190 (1)(a) Cr.P.C. r/w. Section 200 Cr.P.C., 1973 r/w. Section 174 IPC, 1860 r/w. Section 63 (4) of PMLA, 2002 for non-attendance in compliance with Section 50, PMLA, 2002.
Kejriwal has called the summons politically motivated.
With inputs from PTI, ANI
