The Enforcement Directorate (ED), a financial investigation agency, conducted searches at over 10 locations connected to Bibhav Kumar, the personal secretary of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, and some individuals associated with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for their alleged involvement in a money laundering case.
The central probe agency also searched the premises of former Delhi Jal Board (DJB) member Shalabh Kumar and AAP treasurer ND Gupta, who is also a Rajya Sabha member, as part of the investigation.
The ED’s probe is focused on the alleged irregularities in the tendering process of the Delhi Jal Board. This case is based on two separate cases filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) of the Delhi government.
According to the CBI, officials of the DJB showed favoritism towards a particular firm and awarded them a contract worth Rs 38 crore for the supply, installation, testing, and commissioning of electromagnetic flow meters. It was discovered that the firm did not meet the technical eligibility criteria and submitted forged documents to win the bid.
The ED’s investigation has revealed that the contract was obtained by NKG infrastructure through fraudulent means and the chief engineer was aware of the forged documents. The agency has already made two arrests in connection with this case.
The ED’s actions come on the same day when Delhi cabinet minister Atishi announced that she would reveal some explosive information about the agency. Her colleague, Saurabh Bharadwaj, also made a similar announcement.
Atishi stated that the ED’s raids were an attempt to prevent their expose and silence them. She also alleged that the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were behind these raids. She added that the ED was also conducting raids on other leaders and that this was a politically motivated and sponsored move by the ruling party.
Responding to these raids, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi accused the government of trying to silence opposition leaders through such actions. She called the raids politically motivated and sponsored by the BJP.
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