AAP leaders faced action by central agencies, Delhi Police in past

India

pti-PTI

New
Delhi,
Aug
19:
Deputy
Chief
Minister
Manish
Sisodia
is
the
latest
in
the
long
line
of
AAP
leaders
and
ministers
who
faced
action
by
central
probe
agencies
and
the
Delhi
Police
on
charges
ranging
from
money
laundering
to
physical
attacks.

The
CBI
on
Friday
raided
the
home
of
Delhi
Deputy
Chief
Minister
Manish
Sisodia
and
20
other
locations
in
connection
with
the
Delhi
Excise
Policy,
escalating
tensions
between
the
BJP-led
Centre
and
the
Aam
Aadmi
Party
which
alleged
the
agency
was
acting
on
orders
“from
above”.

Aam
Aadmi
Party
(AAP)
leader
and
Rajya
Sabha
member
Raghav
Chadha
claimed
that
over
100
false
cases
had
been
registered
against
the
party
leaders
but
they
came
clean
in
courts
every
time.

Arvind
Kejriwal’s
name
figured
in
the
2018
assault
on
then
chief
secretary
Anshu
Prakash
during
a
meeting
at
the
chief
minister’s
official
residence.

In
February
of
that
year,
the
Delhi
Police,
which
comes
under
the
Central
government,
visited
the
chief
minister’s
residence
looking
for
video
and
other
evidence
in
connection
with
an
alleged
assault
by
AAP
MLAs
Amanatullah
Khan
and
Prakash
Jarwal.
The
trial
court
had
discharged
Kejriwal,
Sisodia
and
other
AAP
MLAs
–
Rajesh
Rishi,
Nitin
Tyagi,
Praveen
Kumar,
Ajay
Dutt,
Sanjeev
Jha,
Rituraj
Govind,
Rajesh
Gupta,
Madan
Lal,
and
Dinesh
Mohania
–
in
the
case.

It
ordered
the
framing
of
charges
against
Khan
and
Jarwal.
Kejriwal,
Sisodia
and
nine
other
AAP
MLAs
were
granted
bail
in
October
2018.

Khan
and
Prakash
Jarwal
were
granted
bail
earlier
by
the
high
court.
Just
like
on
Friday
Kejriwal
claimed
the
CBI
has
“orders
from
above
to
harass
them”,
he
and
his
deputy
in
the
past
accused
the
Centre
of
a
witch
hunt
and
even
demanded
an
apology
from
Prime
Minister
Narendra
Modi
for
“troubling”
the
AAP-led
Delhi
government.

In
December
2015,
a
few
months
after
the
AAP
stormed
into
power
in
Delhi
a
second
time,
the
CBI
searched
the
office
of
Kejriwal
in
connection
with
corruption
charges
against
his
then
principal
secretary
Rajendra
Kumar.
It
had
prompted
Kejriwal
to
call
Prime
Minister
Narendra
Modi
a
“coward”
and
“psychopath”.

A
few
months
later,
in
July
2016,
the
CBI
conducted
searches
at
many
locations
in
Delhi
and
Uttar
Pradesh
linked
to
Kejriwal’s
principal
secretary
Rajendra
Kumar.
Kumar
was
arrested
by
the
central
agency
for
allegedly
providing
undue
favours
to
a
company.

Kejriwal’s
nephew
Vinay
Bansal
was
arrested
by
the
Anti-Corruption
Branch
in
May
2018
over
an
alleged
scam
in
the
Public
Works
Department.
Bansal
was
accused
of
having
a
50
per
cent
stake
in
a
firm
that
was
allegedly
involved
in
financial
irregularities
in
building
a
drainage
system
in
northwest
Delhi.

Friday’s
CBI
raid
on
Manish
Sisodia
is
not
the
first
for
the
Delhi
deputy
chief
minister
and
he
had
similar
run-ins
with
the
federal
probe
agency.
CBI
officials
had
reached
Sisodia’s
house
on
Mathura
Road
in
Delhi
in
June
2017
to
record
his
statement
over
the
alleged
irregularities
in
the
‘Talk
To
AK’ campaign
held
in
2016
where
Kejriwal
answered
questions
from
the
people
on
a
wide
range
of
issues
such
as
electricity
and
water.

Delhi
Minister
Satyendar
Jain
is
already
in
judicial
custody
in
a
money
laundering
case.
He
was
arrested
by
the
Enforcement
Directorate
in
May
this
year
under
the
Prevention
of
Money
Laundering
Act
on
charges
of
hawala
transactions
by
five
shell
companies
allegedly
controlled
by
him.
The
ED
and
CBI
had
raided
Jain’s
residences
and
the
properties
of
other
people
close
to
him.

In
May
2018,
CBI
searched
Jain’s
residence
for
alleged
irregularities
in
hiring
architects
for
the
Public
Works
Department
(PWD),
a
portfolio
which
he
helmed
for
a
long
time.
In
June
this
year,
the
Delhi
Lieutenant
Governor
forwarded
a
complaint
of
BJP
MP
Manoj
Tiwari
over
the
alleged
scam
in
the
construction
of
seven
hospitals
to
the
Anti-Corruption
Branch
for
a
probe.

Sisodia
had
termed
these
allegations
as
“baseless”.
Another
minister
of
the
Delhi
government,
Kailash
Gahlot,
also
faced
the
heat
of
central
agencies
in
the
past.

The
Income
Tax
Department
had
in
October
2018
conducted
searches
on
premises
linked
to
Kailash
Gahlot
in
Delhi
and
Gurugram
in
connection
with
tax
evasion
worth
crores
of
rupees.
Kejriwal
had
demanded
Prime
Minister
Modi
apologise
to
the
people
for
“constantly
troubling”
the
Delhi
government.

Last
year,
the
Centre
approved
a
CBI
probe
into
an
alleged
scam
in
the
procurement
of
1,000
low-floor
buses
by
the
Delhi
Transport
Department
which
is
headed
by
Gahlot.
Seizing
the
opportunity,
the
BJP
launched
a
scathing
attack
with
Delhi
BJP
president
Adesh
Gupta
and
former
Union
minister
Harsh
Vardhan
dubbing
the
Kejriwal
dispensation
as
a
“looter
government”.