Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal after being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21 night in the alleged excise policy-linked money laundering case.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: The AAP stated on Friday that the 'politicisation' of central probe agencies ED and CBI by the BJP has left the entire nation feeling 'ashamed,' and it anticipates a response from the people in the upcoming elections.
Accusing the BJP of operating the "biggest political washing machine" over the past decade, AAP spokesperson Jasmine Shah alleged during a press conference that this machine produces "election donations and falsehoods" when businessmen and politicians facing corruption charges are placed inside.
No immediate reaction was available from the BJP over the AAP leader's allegations.
Shah said NCP (Ajit Pawar camp) leader Praful Patel, who is facing multiple cases, got a clean chit from the CBI.
"The case in which he has been given clean chit involved the merger of Indian Airlines and Air India when he was Civil Aviation minister. As per CBI charge sheet and a CAG report, there was a big scam involved and Rs 840 crore of public exchequer was lost," he claimed.
Patel was sent summons after summons, properties were attached till July 2023, when the Ajit Pawar group joined the BJP alliance in Maharashtra, Shah said.
"The summonses and attachment of properties stopped and no charge sheet was filed and the whole probe has been put on the backburner," he said.
Similarly, in a case involving another politician Chhagan Bhujbal, the ED did not oppose his bail application saying related file was missing, Shah claimed.
On the other hand, four top leaders of the AAP including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal were arrested despite no "solid evidence or even a penny worth of evidence" in the excise policy case being probed by the ED and CBI for nearly two years, he alleged.
"The whole country watching and is ashamed by the way the ED and CBI have been politicised. People will respond to this in the coming elections," Shah said.
Kejriwal was arrested last week by the ED in an alleged money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped excise policy (2021-22) in which earlier former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh and another party leader Vijay Nayar are behind bars.