One day after the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) conducted raids on members of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Delhi minister Atishi asserted on Wednesday that the officials failed to disclose details of the case that led to the crackdown. Atishi alleged that the entire episode was orchestrated to target Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
During a press briefing, Atishi disclosed that ED officials, in the 16-hour raids at the residence of Delhi Chief Minister’s personal assistant Bibhav Kumar on Tuesday, did not specify the case under which the searches were conducted. She underscored, “This would probably be the first time in the history of ED that a raid was conducted and it lasted for 16 hours, but it was not mentioned anywhere in writing under which case these searches were conducted.”
Presenting a document, she pointed out that, unlike previous raids, ED did not provide details of the case during the recent operation. Atishi added, “The raid went on for 16 hours in the house of Kumar. During that time, ED officers were sitting in Bibhav Ji’s drawing room. Headlines were made across that raids were going on, but neither any search or seizure was made nor any grilling was done.”
The ED conducted searches at around 10 locations, including premises associated with AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP ND Gupta. Atishi argued that these actions demonstrated the true intentions of the ED, asserting, “This proved that the raids that are taking place, and the summonses that are being issued, are being done only for the purpose of attacking Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal.”
She accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of employing ED to target leaders close to Kejriwal. Atishi suggested, “The Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi know that there is only one leader who can challenge them, that is Kejriwal. So now ED has been openly tasked with putting all the leaders close to Kejriwal in jail.”
The raids were reportedly part of a money laundering probe by the agency. Simultaneously, the agency moved against AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal in court for the fifth time for skipping summons related to the Excise policy case. Earlier in the month, the Delhi crime branch issued a notice to Kejriwal to join a probe into allegations that the BJP attempted to “poach” MLAs to topple his government.