ED officials didn’t conduct searches, sat in living room of Kejriwal’s PA’s house: Atishi

: Enforcement Directorate officials who raided the residence of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s personal assistant (PA) Bibhav Kumar sat in the living room of his house and did not even pretend to carry out searches, Delhi Minister Atishi alleged on Wednesday.

The raid was conducted on Tuesday as part of the federal agency’s probe into charges that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and some officials received kickbacks of about Rs 21 crore through alleged irregularities in a Delhi Jal Board (DJB) contract.

In a statement, the Enforcement Directorate said “incriminating” documents and digital evidence apart from valuables of Rs 1.97 crore and foreign currency worth Rs 4 lakh were seized during raids in the case in Delhi, Varanasi and Chandigarh. Bribes generated from alleged corruption in the DJB contract were “passed on” as election funds to the AAP, it claimed. The Aam Aadmi Party, in a statement, also said it will take legal action against the agency for “defaming” it.

In its statement, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said they condemn any kind of wrongdoing done by DJB officials or its contractors if proven true.

But the party accused the federal agency of levelling false allegations against its leaders.

“We also condemn the ED’s blatantly false allegation that AAP or its leaders have anything to do with this case. Not a single penny or piece of evidence has been recovered from the AAP leaders who were raided yesterday by ED,” the party said.

In a series of press conferences on Wednesday, AAP leaders, including Atishi, alleged that the ED raids were an “attack” on Kejriwal to malign his image and crush him.

“These bogus raids are part of a larger conspiracy to undermine Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and AAP leaders...Real motive behind these raids is to stifle CM Arvind Kejriwal’s voice as he stands out as the only leader capable of challenging and raising his voice against Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Atishi said at a press conference.

She said that ED officials did not search any rooms or look for any documents. They did not even care to explain in connection with which case they had come, Atishi said. Hitting out at the AAP, the BJP said earlier when AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh were raided, the party used to say that nothing was found in the raids. But they have been denied bail for a long time, showing that the ED has evidence, it said. The AAP beats this “ready-made drum” thinking they will be absolved of the blame, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said.