Excise policy case: ED created smoke screen of AAP being corrupt, alleges Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi court

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal whose ED custody was extended till April 1 on Thursday himself made submissions in a court here during the hearing in the alleged excise policy case and alleged that the federal agencys objective is to crush AAPKejriwal also alleged that a smoke screen of the Aam Aadmi Party AAP being corrupt has been created before the nation by the Enforcement Directorate EDThe ED produced him in the court of Special Judge Kaveri Baweja and sought a sevenday further custody arguing that he needed to be confronted with some people linked with the case The court extended his custodial interrogation till April 1Shortly after the proceedings started the AAP national convener made the submissions in Hindi after obtaining permission from the court even though his lawyers were present thereSo far the CBI has filed 31000 pages in this case in the court and 294 witnesses have been examined in this case The ED has investigated 162 people and filed a 25000page report so far By combining all these documents and reports why have I been arrested My name figures only in four statements he said in a jampacked courtroomElaborating on the four statements mentioning his name Kejriwal said C Arvind former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodias secretary gave a statement According to it Sisodia handed over some excise policyrelated documents to C Arvind in his Kejriwals presence in the chief ministers official residenceHe has only stated that Manish Sisodia gave some documents to C Arvind Madam several MLAs ministers and dignitaries come with their secretaries to my houseThey do sidetalks and hand over documents to each other How do I know who is giving what to whom Is this statement a sufficient reason to arrest the sitting chief minister Kejriwal saidGiving details of the second statement in which his name appears Kejriwal said Magunta Srinivas Reddy is an MP from Andhra Pradesh chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddys party YSRCPMagunta Srinivas Reddy came to my office at 430 pm on March 16 2021 He had sent an email to my office that he is an MP and wanted to meet meMy office gave him an appointment to meet me after 10 days He came over and said I want to open my familys charitable trust in Delhi I told him that land does not come under us it comes under the Lieutenant Governor LG Kejriwal saidThe Delhi chief minister asked Magunta Srinivas Reddy to give him the letter which he will forward to the lieutenant governorHe said on September 16 2022 Reddys house was raided and the ED asked him whether he had met Kejriwal When Reddy replied in the affirmative saying his meeting was about seeking land for his familys trust the ED was not happy and later the agency arrested his son in February 2023When the son remains arrested for five months the father changes his statement He changed his statement on July 16 2023 and his son was released on July 18 Mission accomplished That means the only mission of the ED was to get me trapped Kejriwal saidThe Delhi chief minister further said Magunta Srinivas Reddy gave three statements to the agency but only one was consideredWhy the only statement that is against Kejriwal has been included in the 25000 pages of ED report and the other two statements were not consideredAll the three statements should have been brought to the notice of the court so that it could decide the truth in the case he saidAbout the statement of the third person Raghav Magunta the Delhi chief minister said out his total seven statements six were not against him Kejriwal But as soon as he gave the seventh statement against him Magunta was released from the jailThe six statements which are not against me have not been brought on record the chief minister saidHe said Sarath Chandra Reddy who was the fourth person to make a statement mentioning his name stated nothing against the chief minister in his two statements before his arrest and nine statements after being arrestedAfter he was kept in jail for six months he Sarath Chandra Reddy finally succumbed and gave another statement on April 25 2023The only thing he said against me was that he had gone to meet the CM along with Vijay Nair he saidKejriwal asked the judge whether these four statements are enough to arrest a sitting chief ministerHe claimed that there is no evidence to the EDs claims that AAP has taken Rs 100 crore The actual liquor excise policy scam started after the beginning of the ED investigation he saidThe ED investigation had two main motives first was to crush the Aam Aadmi Party and to declare it corrupt he saidHe said the second motive was to form a smoke screen in front of the nation where they could declare the AAP as corruptWithout mentioning the BJP or the Centre he alleged that they wanted to make the AAP an accused in excise policy scam and easily operate their electoral bond scam behind all of this They were extorting huge funds in the name of electoral bonds he addedASG S V Raju countered Kejriwal and his counsel saying Persons who have later named him have disclosed reasons to do so It is in the papers All these submissions have been made before the Delhi high courtThe ASG further said the claim about papers factoring him being with the agency was a figment of his imaginationHe is the person incharge of affairs of the AAP which has received the bribe amounts used in the Goa elections We have witnesses to say the money came through hawala from the South Group There is a chain He has selectively not talked about that chain the ASG saidThe ED officials reacting to Kejriwals statement said they were investigating the case under the lawful procedures of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLA and the agency has been duly filing charge sheets before the courtsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or 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