Arvind Kejriwal Personally Addresses Delhi Court, Says Approver "Bought Bail" Paying ₹55 Crore Donation To BJP
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal personally addressed a Delhi Court today and submitted that the mission of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was only to implicate him in the liquor policy case and that the central probe agency wanted to crush the Aam Aadmi Party. Kejriwal made the submissions before Special CBI Judge Kaveri Baweja of Rouse Avenue Courts as he was produced in court on...
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal personally addressed a Delhi Court today and submitted that the mission of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was only to implicate him in the liquor policy case and that the central probe agency wanted to crush the Aam Aadmi Party.
Kejriwal made the submissions before Special CBI Judge Kaveri Baweja of Rouse Avenue Courts as he was produced in court on the expiry of his six days of ED remand.
Kejriwal alleged that the ED investigation had two objectives- one, to create a smokescreen in front of the country that Aam Aadmi Party was corrupt and did the scam and two, to do an “extortion racket” for collecting money.
“Asli sharaab ghotala shuru hota hain ED ki jaanch ke bad. Jab ED ki jaanch shuru hojati hain. ED ki jaanch ke do maqsad hain. Ek smokescreen create karna pure desh ke saamne- Aam Aadmi Party ne chori kari hain, Aam Aadmi Party bhrashtachaari hain, Aam Aadmi Party ne sharaab ghotala kiya. Uske piche extortion racket karna jiske zariye wo paise ikhatte kar rahi hain,” Kejriwal said in Hindi.
Furthermore, the Chief Minister said that Sarath Reddy, an approver in the case, got bail in the case after he made a statement against him. He also said that Reddy gave donation (chanda) of Rs. 55 crores to Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) after his arrest.
“Sarath Reddy ke case me, usko bail do wajah se mili. Ek- Sarath Reddy ne mere khilaaf statement diya. Aur do- Sarath Reddy ne arrest hone ke bad 55 crore ka chanda BJP ko diya. He bought his bail. Money trail is clearly established. BJP ke account me sidhe gaya. Money trail is established,” he said.
Kejriwal began to address the court by saying that he is neither been found guilty by any court nor any charges have been framed against him and that there are no allegations against him.
He said: “Abhi tak is case me CBI 31,000 page file kr chuki hain court me aur 194 witnesses ko examine chuki hain. ED lagbhag 162 witnesses ko examine kar chuki hain aur 25,000 pages file kar chuki hain. In saare witnesses aur kaagazo ko milaake mujhe kyu giraftaar kiya gaya hain.”
Kejriwal said that his name came in a total of 4 statements given by C Arvind, YSRCP Ongole MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy (MSR), his son Raghav Magunta and Sarath Redyy.
“C Arvind Manish Sisodia ji ke secretary thi. Unhone kaha hai ki ek din mere ghar me, meri maujudgi me, Sisodia ji ne unko kuch excise ke documents handover kiye. That's it. Unhone ye nahi kaha ki maine paise diye. Aisa koi aarop nahi hain,” Kejriwal said.
He added: “Mere ghar me grehmantri aate hain, mantri aate hain, dignitaries aate hain apne apne secretaries leke. Wo aapas me khusur phusur bhi karte rehte hain documents bhi exchange krte hain. Mujhe kya pata kya krte hain. Is this a sufficient reason to arrest a sitting Chief Minister? Kya ye statement ek sitting CM ko arrest karne ke liye paryaapt hain?”
Referring to MSR's statement, Kejriwal said that on March 16, 2021, MSR came to his office asking for some land in the national capital to open a family trust.
“Maine unko kaha ki zameen humare under me nahi aati. LG sahab ke under me aati hain. Aap mujhe chitthi de dijiye mai unhe forward kardunga. That's it. 16 September 2022 ko unke gharpe raid hoti hain. Unse pucha jata hain kya aap Kejriwal ji se mile. Wo kehte hain haan mai mila aur mai Kejriwal ji se apne family trust ki zameen mangne gaya tha,” Kejriwal said.
He further added: “ED is not happy with the statement. 5 mahine ke bad unke bete ko arrest karliya jata hain. Uske bawajood bhi wo apne statement pe kaayam rehte hain. Par jab unka beta giraftaar hota hain, toh baap toot jaata hain.”
“16 July ko wo apna statement badal dete hain. 18 July ko unka beta chooth jata hain. Uske baad unka koi statement nahi hota. Statements pe statements ho rahe the jab tak wo apna statement mere khilaaf nahi de rahe the. Jaise hi unhone mere khillaf statement diya, beta bhi chooth gaya, statements hone bhi band hogaye. 03 October ko unka mafinama hogaya. Mission accomplished. Iska matlab ED ka maqsad kewal aur kewal mujhe phasana tha.”
Kejriwal then said that out of the 25,000 pages filed by ED in the case, the probe agency has only relied upon those pages which carry the statements against him.
He added that the 1 lakh pages kept in ED's office which are a proof of innocence of Aam Aadmi Party have not been put before the court.
“Teesra statement hai unke [MSR] ke bete ka, Raghav Magunta. Raghav Magunta ko jab unke ghar pe raid hoti hain 16 September ko, unse statement leke, he said whatever his father has said. Uske bad 10 February ko unko arrest kiya jata hain. Uske bad unke 5 statements hote hain, 5 statements me wo wahi bolte hain jo pehle bola. 5 mahine tak wo jail me rehte hain uske bad jab 16 July ko unke pitaaji statement badalte hain tab 18 July ko unko chord diya jaata hain,” he said.
The CM added: “7 statements unke hue. 6 me wo mere khillaf nahi bolte. 7 me jaise hi mere khilaaf statement dete hain, unko chord diya jata hain aur mafinama diya jata hain. Wo 6 statements record par nahi laayi jaati hain.”
“Sarath Reddy ke case me, 16 September ko uske yaha raid hui. Usne mere khilaaf kuch nahi bola. 9 November ko uska statement liya. Usne kuchnahi bola. 10 November ko uski arrest hui. Uski 9 statements hote hain. Wo mere khilaaf nahi bolta. 6 mahine arrest ke bad wo chooth jaate hain. Aur wo kewal itna kehta hain ki mai Vijay Nair ke saath milke CM Sahab se milne gaya tha. CM Sahab jaldi me the. CM sahab ne kaha ki Vijay ke saath touch me raho, Vijay acha ladka hain.”
On ED's allegations that Rs. 100 crores of kickbacks were received from hawala channels from South Group to fund AAP's Goa elections, Kejriwal referred to Supreme Court (Justice Sanjeev Khanna's) observations that ED's assertion is “a matter of debate.”
“Sanjeev Khanna ji keh rahe hain. Iska matlab ye saabit nahi hua. Iska matlab iske liye saboot nahi hain. Jo 100 crore ye keh rahe hain hum logo ne rishwat li, us rishwat ka toh saboot hi nahi hain,” Kejriwal said.
He added: “Aur yahi puri jaanch ka maqsad tha. Ek taraf Aam Aadmi Party ko crush karna, ek smokescreen create karna aur piche se extortion karna.”
After hearing the submissions made by Kejriwal's lawyers and ED's counsels, the special judge today further remanded the Chief Minister to ED custody till April 01.