(Image source from: Aninews.in)
In a major development, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted raids this morning on the personal secretary of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, a Rajya Sabha MP, and other Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders. These raids are part of a money laundering probe related to alleged irregularities in the Delhi Jal Board. Several premises across Delhi, Chandigarh, and Varanasi were searched by the central agency. Sources suggest that Bibhav Kumar, the personal secretary of Mr. Kejriwal, Rajya Sabha MP ND Gupta, and former DJB member Shalabh Kumar are among those who were raided. The searches were conducted just hours before the AAP's press conference, where the party had claimed to reveal explosive information about the agency.
Responding to the raids, Delhi Minister Atishi accused the ED of trying to intimidate her party and stated that the raids were conducted to scare them. She further alleged that the agency was pressuring people to sign false statements. Atishi confidently stated that no evidence or money had been recovered during the raids, and the ED was attempting to build their case by forcing the accused to become government witnesses.
The ED's investigation is connected to an alleged scam in the Delhi Jal Board, with the case originating from an FIR registered by the CBI and an Anti-Corruption Branch probe. The agency is currently probing two separate instances of financial irregularities in the tendering process of the DJB. Last week, retired chief engineer Jagdish Kumar Arora and contractor Anil Kumar Aggarwal were arrested in connection with the case, and their ED custody was extended by five more days on Monday. In a similar investigation last year, the ED raided multiple locations in Delhi-NCR, Chennai, and Kerala regarding the alleged irregularities.
