The Aam Aadmi Party on Monday alleged the BJP wants to stop it from campaigning in the Lok Sabha polls after the Enforcement Directorate questioned Delhi’s ruling party MLA Durgesh Pathak in the excise policy-linked money laundering case.
Arrested Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s assistant Bibhav Kumar was also questioned in the same case on Monday. Both Kumar and Pathak have faced grilling by the ED in the case earlier.
Reacting to the development, Delhi minister Atishi said, “The BJP wants to stop the AAP from campaigning in Lok Sabha polls at any cost. This is a political conspiracy by the BJP.”
AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak alleged the BJP “has made a list of leaders and they want to put the entire party in jail so that they are in a solo in race”.
The ED on Monday recorded Bibhav Kumar and Durgesh Pathak’s statements under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Sources said Kumar’s questioning was essential in connection with the engagements of Kejriwal.
The agency had alleged in its earlier charge sheets that at least 36 accused, including former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, and Kumar, “destroyed, used or changed” 170 phones to conceal evidence of “kickbacks” worth thousands of crores of rupees in the alleged scam.
Pathak, the 35-year-old AAP MLA from Rajinder Nagar constituency, is understood to have been called by the agency for questioning in connection with the party’s 2021-22 poll campaign for the Goa assembly polls.
The ED has alleged that Rs 45 crore in kickbacks out of the Rs 100 crore bribe allegedly provided by the ‘South Group’, were used by the AAP for this campaign.
The agency has claimed that cash payments were made to individuals involved in campaign activities, managed by AAP members like Vijay Nair and Pathak.
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