The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has condemned the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for disseminating false information in the media. Senior AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh revealed that during Wednesday’s hearing of CM Arvind Kejriwal’s case, the judge exposed the CBI’s blatant lie. The CBI falsely claimed that the Delhi CM had blamed Manish Sisodia for the alleged liquor scam and distanced himself from the case. When CM Arvind Kejriwal objected, the court read his statement and confirmed the CBI was lying. The AAP Rajya Sabha MP pointed out that the Supreme Court was on the verge of lifting the High Court’s stay on CM Arvind Kejriwal’s bail when the CBI, inactive for two years, suddenly arrested him. He questioned why the CBI, which had called the Delhi CM as a witness in April 2023, didn’t accuse him sooner. Sanjay Singh argued that the BJP aims to keep CM Arvind Kejriwal in jail by orchestrating fake cases against him.
Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters, senior AAP leader and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh said first of all, I would like to request the media people that if any false news is given by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) or CBI, then assume that it is false news sponsored by the BJP government. It is extremely important for you to verify it first. The CBI spread the lie today that CM Arvind Kejriwal washed his hands off this case and blamed Manish Sisodia. When CM Arvind Kejriwal himself objected to the false news being spread by the CBI, then the judge asked the CBI to present the statement given by Arvind Kejriwal and when that statement was examined, the judge himself said that the CBI is wrong, CM Arvind Kejriwal did not give any such statement.
The AAP Rajya Sabha MP continued, stating, these BJP people are working against us with malicious intent. They are working under a political conspiracy against us at the behest of the BJP government. Therefore, it is also the responsibility of the media to verify what they say, otherwise, this incident will be repeated again and again.
Lashing out at the probe agencies, the Senior AAP Leader stated, “This country’s prime investigating agencies, the country’s so-called ‘efficient agencies’, the ED and CBI, have been investigating Delhi’s so-called liquor scam for the last two years. The same stories, the same things are being repeated for two years and there is no proof, no evidence of those things. It has taken two years and your investigation is not getting completed. You have filed more than 50,000 pages in the chargesheet; you have prepared 464 witnesses. It is not known how many documents you have hidden saying that ‘they cannot be relied upon’. You have conveniently hidden the evidence, the papers which can prove that CM Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia are innocent. Is this your impartial investigation?”
“It is very important for you and the people of the country to think about the timing that the CBI chooses for the arrest. It is important to see how the Modi government of the country is working, and how the CBI and ED of the central government are working. CM Arvind Kejriwal was arrested on the same day the matter of electoral bonds came to light. It was revealed that Sarath Chandra Reddy had given a bribe of ₹60 crores to the Bharatiya Janata Party and CM Arvind Kejriwal was arrested on the same day,” said the AAP Rajya Sabha MP.
Sanjay Singh further added that after that, in CM Arvind Kejriwal’s case, neither there was any proof nor statement, those statements were prepared fraudulently, and all these things came to light. The Supreme Court granted him interim bail and it was clearly written in the bail letter to the Supreme Court that there is no threat to society from Arvind Kejriwal, Arvind Kejriwal is not a habitual offender, Arvind Kejriwal does not have any criminal record, and on that basis, he was given an interim bail. After that, he went back to jail, respecting the court.
The Senior AAP Leader asserted that when the trial court granted him bail, ignoring all the rules, PM Modi’s ED went to the High Court and got a stay on the bail without a copy of the order. The trial court has clearly stated in its order that no money trail has been found against Arvind Kejriwal, there is no proof of the use of money in the Goa elections. While granting bail to Arvind Kejriwal, the trial court said in its order that the ED is prejudiced in Arvind Kejriwal’s case. ED is working with malice. We all know how difficult it is to get bail under PMLA. In PMLA, when it is completely satisfied that the person is innocent, then he is granted bail. This means that after hearing all the arguments of the ED, when the judge was convinced that Arvind Kejriwal is innocent, then he got bail. However, the ED went to the High Court to get a stay on the bail without a written order from the court. After this, we took this case to the Supreme Court.
The AAP MP said that when the Supreme Court was about to lift the stay on Arvind Kejriwal’s bail, the CBI, which was sleeping for two years, woke up. Earlier, the CBI had called Arvind Kejriwal for questioning as a witness for the first time on 16 April 2023. If Arvind Kejriwal was an accused, then did the CBI not remember to make him an accused in these 14 months? Did the CBI not remember to arrest Arvind Kejriwal for so long? Now when the High Court’s stay on the bail order given by the trial court is about to be lifted and there is every possibility of getting bail from the Supreme Court, the CBI decided to wake up. The CBI has been sleeping for the last 14 months. The CBI has no evidence and it is saying baseless things. The CBI told the court that it had a statement given by Magunta Reddy against Arvind Kejriwal in January 2024, whereas the same statement of Magunta Reddy was registered with the ED in July 2023.
Sanjay Singh said that when ED and CBI were arguing together in the Supreme Court in the Manish Sisodia case, even then ED had put this statement of Magunta Reddy before the Supreme Court. What was CBI doing at that time? CBI is saying that Magunta Reddy has stated in January 2024, whereas Magunta Reddy has given many different statements before this. Earlier, Magunta Reddy had also stated that Arvind Kejriwal has nothing to do with the excise policy and he had met him only for a short while. If Magunta Reddy stated in January 2024, then what was ED doing for the last 5 months? It came to its senses when the trial court granted bail to Arvind Kejriwal, considering him innocent. BJP wants to keep the Chief Minister in jail by any means, for this it is filing fake cases one after the other.
“CM Arvind Kejriwal has been implicated in a false and baseless case without any evidence at the behest of the BJP government at the Center. I will try to raise this issue in the Lok Sabha by talking to the opposition parties of the India Alliance. I urge all the parties of the INDIA alliance to raise the issue of Arvind Kejriwal’s illegal arrest and ED’s violation of rules and blocking his bail in the country’s Parliament,” Sanjay Singh concluded.
