The Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids are currently underway at the premises of Delhi AAP MLA Gulab Singh Yadav, news agency ANI reported on Saturday citing sources. It is to be noted that the development comes just two days after the central agency arrested Delhi Chief Minister and national convenor of Aam Aadmi Party Arvind Kejriwal in the excise policy case. A Delhi court has sent Kejriwal to 6-day remand.
Commenting on the news of raids, Delhi Minister and AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj told news agency ANI: "People in not only India but those across the world have come to know that the BJP Government is busy in putting the entire Opposition in jail. This country is following the path of Russia...This has been seen in Bangladesh, Pakistan, North Korea and now India is on the same path."
"The largest democracy in the world is now on the path of dictatorship where the basic rights of people will be finished, where Opposition will be stopped. Our top four leaders are in jail under false cases. We are contesting in Gujarat, and the party's Gujarat in-charge Gulab Singh Yadav is being raided today. I am confident that in the coming time, AAP leaders and other Opposition leaders will be raided so that Opposition is scared into silence," he added.
K Kavitha, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader and daughter of former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, is also behind bars.
The other two are Sanjay Singh, an AAP MP, and Manish Sisodia, a former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister.
Delhi Excise Policy Case:
The ED claims that the Delhi spirits policy 2021-22 provided an exceptionally high-profit margin of 12 per cent for wholesalers and nearly 185 per cent for retailers. The "South Group" allegedly gave Rs 100 crore in advance to another accused, Vijay Nair, who was linked to the AAP. Of the 12 per cent, 6 per cent was to be recovered as kickbacks from wholesalers for AAP leaders.
The investigation into the Delhi liquor policy case focused heavily on an alleged network of middlemen, businessmen and politicians known as the "South Group" by central agencies.
The ED claimed that the spirits policy was altered to benefit companies in the "South Group" and that Sisodia diluted the policy in their favour without consultation.
So far, 16 key individuals linked to alleged money laundering while framing the now-defunct Delhi liquor policy case have been identified. Some of the accused have turned witnesses.