The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday conducted raids at about a dozen locations in Delhi associated with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MP ND Gupta, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal”s personal secretary Bibhav Kumar, and former Delhi Jal Board (DJB) member Shalabh Kumar. This action is part of an ongoing investigation into a money laundering case.
The AAP has called these raids a response to an impending exposé by AAP senior leader and Delhi minister Atishi against the agency scheduled for Tuesday. Atishi alleged that the BJP government is employing these raids as an attempt to intimidate AAP leaders.
“Yesterday, I had announced an “explosive exposé” on ED at 10 am today. To preempt this exposé and intimidate the AAP, ED has been conducting raids since 7 am against AAP leaders and workers. Reports suggest that the ED will continue raids throughout the day against AAP leaders. The BJP-led central government is attempting to intimidate the AAP using investigative agencies,” Atishi was quoted as saying.
These raids follow the ED”s recent complaint against Arvind Kejriwal for repeatedly failing to appear in connection with the Delhi liquor policy case. After Kejriwal skipped the ED summons for the fifth time, a complaint was filed against him with the Rouse Avenue court. The ED is seeking to question Kejriwal in connection with the AAP government”s now-scrapped Delhi excise policy, but Kejriwal has labeled the summons as “illegal.”
Over the weekend, the Delhi Police crime branch served notices to the AAP chief and Atishi regarding their allegations of BJP attempting to poach AAP MLAs, following a formal complaint by the BJP.
What are Enforcement Directorate”s allegations?
Several news reports indicate that the investigation is linked to allegedly illegal DJB contracts worth over Rs 30 crore. The agency last month arrested the former chief engineer of the Jal Board under the PMLA law and a businessman on similar charges. According to the ED, Jagdish Kumar Arora, the former chief engineer, allegedly awarded a contract to NKG Infrastructure Ltd. worth ₹38 crore, despite the company not meeting technical eligibility criteria.
Subsequently, NKG Infrastructure Ltd. subcontracted the work to Integral Screws Ltd., owned by Anil Kumar Aggarwal, who allegedly transferred around ₹3 crore as a bribe to Arora. The funds were reportedly transferred through various means, including cash and bank transactions, with accounts belonging to associates and relatives of Arora used for these transactions.
