New Delhi, Jan 4 (UNI) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday alleged that BJP is using the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and Central Investigation Agencies as “political weapon” to break opposition parties.
“The PMLA was originally designed to curb funding to terrorists and narcotics traders, it is now being used as a political weapon against the opposition, Senior AAP leader Atishi Marlena said while addressing a press conference here.
Emphasizing that it is the only law in the country where securing bail is next to impossible, Marlena said that the BJP is now using this act against almost all the opposition leaders. They are using PMLA and ED to attack, break and terrify opposition.
She further pointed out that the charges, against the leaders who join the BJP, are swiftly withdrawn. Taking an example of Subhendu Adhikari and Himanta Biswa Sarma, Marlena said, “The cases against these leaders were resolved just after they joined the BJP. We have also seen the example of former NCP leader Chaggan Bhujbal, who recently joined the BJP. Some days after his joining, ED withdrew the case claiming, “lack of evidence”, Marlena added.
“AAP members, including party convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, are not scared of BJP,” she clarified saying that we will keep on fighting to save this nation and the constitution from the BJP.
“We have been hearing about this so-called Delhi liquor scam for two years. Over 500 officers are investigating this matter, yet the agencies have not recovered a single rupee. In this country, whenever ED and CBI conducted raids, we witnessed that they recovered cash, gold, property papers, and papers of shell companies. Even after conducting raids against several AAP leaders for two years now, these agencies are unable to recover a single rupee,” Marlena said.
“These agencies are even unable to initiate trial because this case is just a political conspiracy. We are now seeing that through this conspiracy, attempts are being made to arrest Arvind Kejriwal before the Lok Sabha elections because the BJP wants Kejriwal to skip the election campaign. This is the reason why Arvind Kejriwal is getting summons on summons just before the elections,” she said.
Criticizing the investigating agency, Marlena said that ED has yet not made it clear why they are summoning Arvind Kejriwal. Are they summoning him as a witness or accused, or as the Chief Minister of Delhi or party convenor? she questioned. They are not clearing it because this is the only attempt to arrest Mr Kejriwal before the Lok Sabha elections, Marlena added.
Party leader Jasmine Shah told reporters that they got to know “through sources” that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is going to arrest Kejriwal in the Delhi liquor scam case.
“Over the last 24 hours, every BJP minister has been stating that Arvind Kejriwal will be arrested, making it clear that if an arrest warrant is issued against Kejriwal, it would be passed through BJP headquarters, and subsequently, the ED will conduct further investigations,” Shah said.
“We all have seen the large gathering of police officials around Kejriwal’s house this morning,” he added.
There was, however, no official statement from ED on the issue. Although Kejriwal did not adhere to the summons of the investigating agency for yesterday.
ED has served three summonses to the Delhi Chief minister to question in the Delhi Excise policy case. The first summon was issued on November 1, followed by the second summon on December 21 and the third on January 3.
