AAP to become first party to be named as accused in corruption case: Sources

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, May 10, 2024: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) will name Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as an accused in a fresh chargesheet in the money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam. This is the first time that any national party will be named as an accused in a chargesheet filed by any agency in a corruption case.

 

The central probe agency is also expected to name Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal as an accused for the first time in the chargesheet. In the chargesheet, the ED will name Kejriwal the ’kingpin’ and key conspirator in the liquor policy case.

The ED has claimed it has established a money trail linked to Kejriwal. Previously, the ED had claimed before a Delhi court that Rs 45 crore of the kickbacks received by AAP was used by the party during its campaign in the 2022 Goa Assembly elections.The agency is likely to file the chargesheet after the Supreme Court’s hearing on interim

bail for Kejriwal on Friday. If the hearing continues through the day, then the chargesheet will be filed tomorrow, sources said.

Filing a chargesheet against an accused is mandatory within two months of arrest. Kejriwal will complete two months in judicial custody on May 21. He was arrested on March 21 in the liquor policy case and is presently lodged in Tihar Jail.

If filed, this will be the seventh chargesheet by the ED in the liquor policy case. The agency has arrested 18 people so far, including former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh. Singh was granted bail last month.

On Thursday, the ED filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court contesting Kejriwal’s interim bail. The agency said the right to campaign in elections was neither fundamental nor constitutional.

The AAP, meanwhile, has lodged a complaint over it with the Supreme Court’s registry, calling the ED’s affidavit as blatant disregard of legal procedures.

The ruling party in Delhi said the affidavit was submitted without taking the top court’s approval and was issued a day before the final decision on Kejriwal’s interim bail.

Courtesy: India Today