The Aam Aadmi Party Wednesday alleged the mention of its Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh's name in the Delhi excise policy case chargesheet by ED was a "deliberate attempt" to defame the party and its leaders, including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Earlier in the day, the party said Singh has written to the Union finance ministry secretary seeking sanction to prosecute Enforcement Department (ED) Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra and Assistant Director Jogender Singh in connection with allegations made against him in the excise policy case.
ED sources said the name of the AAP leader appears four times in the chargesheet out of which one reference was wrong and typed inadvertently. They said the agency has moved a petition in the court to rectify the anomaly in the prosecution complaint (chargesheet).
Addressing a press conference, Delhi Cabinet minister and AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged that the CBI and ED have become "synonyms for harassment, fear, torture, threatening and defaming someone".
"AAP MP Sanjay Singh had announced that he will file a criminal defamation case against two ED officials because they put his name in the chargesheet and later revealed to media that even Sanjay Singh is involved in this concocted scam," he said.
Bharadwaj accused the ED of scaring the opposition parties and claimed that they had "apologised to Sanjay Singh".
"This is the first time that the ED director had to apologise to someone. In a way, Centre had to apologise to Sanjay Singh and the AAP," he said.
Seeking to know how the "mistake" could happen, he opined that it was a misfire.
"They said the name was mentioned by mistake. How can this happen? A BJP MP's name didn't come by mistake. It was inserted at the behest of the PMO. This whole alleged scam is fake and the entire case is false."
Bharadwaj alleged that "they (Central probe agencies) have not been able to prove corruption worth even a single penny. The whole matter is being done to defame Arvind Kejriwal and his government. It is a conspiracy by the Centre. They want to defame the AAP by hook or crook."
Alleging that ED has been tasked with a hit job, the AAP spokesperson claimed that the Centre has been exposed.
"Why didn't they put the name of BJP MPs Parvesh Verma or Manoj Tiwari by mistake? This means that the names of Arvind Kejriwal, Sanjay Singh, Manish Sisodia, and Raghav Chadha are in their mind. You are indulging in a conspiracy," he alleged and described it as "shameful".
Sanjay Singh had on April 22 sent a legal notice to the probe agency asking it to issue an apology, or else face civil and criminal proceedings for allegedly making false and derogatory claims against him in the Delhi excise policy case.
The legal notice, issued by Singh's lawyer, was addressed to ED Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra and Assistant Director Jogender Singh.
ED sources said the probe agency has moved a petition before the designated special PMLA court on April 20 to rectify the anomaly in the prosecution complaint (chargesheet) after the "typographical/clerical" came to notice.
An ED counsel wrote to Sanjay Singh's lawyer on April 29 saying that "instead of Rahul Singh, Sanjay Singh was inadvertently mentioned at only one reference".
"The said application for correction is much prior to the date of the present notice (Sanjay Singh's notice to the ED on April 22), which demonstrates the bona fide of the agency," the ED counsel said.