As he prepared to appear before the CBI asserting that no one in the world is honest if he is called corrupt, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Saturday he will sue the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate officials on charges of perjury and filing false affidavits in courts.
He will go to CBI headquarters in the morning accompanied by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, the entire Delhi cabinet and ten Rajya Sabha MPs in a show of strength.
Kejriwal, who has been summoned to appear before investigators at CBI headquarters at 11 AM in connection with the Delhi liquor policy case, said that the ED has misled the court in a chargesheet by claiming that former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has destroyed 14 phones.
"The seizure memo shows that out of these 14 phones, four are with the ED and one with the CBI. Most of the other phones are alive and are being used by volunteers. The ED and the CBI know about these phones. They are misleading the court by filing false affidavits," he told a press conference, as he announced plans to take legal action against the agencies.
Alleging that the agencies were torturing people to extract confessions, he claimed, "people are being asked to falsely take my name and Sisodia's name. One Chandan Reddy, whom we are not acquainted with, was tortured and his medical report says he suffered trauma to his ears and face. These people are using third-degree, mental harassment and physical torture to extract false statements."
"Sameer Mahendru and Arun Pillai have been tortured. One person, who has two young daughters, was asked, 'How will your daughter go to college tomorrow?' Another one was quizzed, while his wife and father were made to sit in another room and he was threatened that they would be sent to jail," he claimed.
Responding to allegations, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said Kejriwal was trembling with fear following the summons and demanded that he take a lie detector test if he had nothing to be afraid of. This is not the time for rhetoric but accountability, Bhatia said.
Claiming that Kejriwal is the "kingpin" in the 'liquor scam' case, Bhatia asked Kejriwal whether he was accountable for the proceedings of the February 2021 meeting of the Delhi Cabinet in which the now-scrapped policy was finalised.
Kejriwal alleged that the BJP leaders want him arrested and if the party had "ordered" the CBI to arrest him, the agency cannot refuse to do so.
Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for levelling allegations of corruption against him, the Chief Minister referred to the claims of the former Jammu and Kashmir Governor and said, "how can corruption be an issue for such a person who is submerged in corruption from head to toe."
"The AAP has given hope to people that it can remove their poverty, educate them and provide employment to their children. The Prime Minister wants to crush this hope," he said.
"The issue is not corruption or liquor scam. How could it be for a person who himself is submerged in corruption? I had cited various instances of corruption in my speech at Delhi Assembly in March and I got a call from Sanjay Singh (AAP MP) that I will be next on target," said the AAP supremo.