By Akanksha raj
The agency has searched at 10 locations linked to the personal secretary as part of its money laundering probe.
On Tuesday, the Enforcement Directorate raided locations involving Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s personal secretary and others associated with the Aam Aadmi Party. As part of its investigation into money laundering in the Delhi Jal Board case, the FBI investigated ten sites associated to the personal secretary.
The agency searched properties associated with Kejriwal’s personal secretary, Bibhav Kumar, Rajya Sabha member ND Gupta, and others.
In response to the raids, AAP leader Atishi pointed out that the BJP government is trying to harass its leaders.
“I announced yesterday that I would be doing a ‘explosive exposé’ on ED at 10 a.m. today. To stop this exposé and harass the AAP, ED has been initiating raids against AAP leaders and workers since 7 a.m. Raids are taking place at the homes of our leader, ND Gupta, and the PA to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. According to rumors, the ED plans to undertake raids on AAP leaders throughout the day. “The BJP-led central government is using the probe agencies to scare the AAP,” she told news agency PTI.
What are Enforcement Directorate’s allegations?
In connection with the case, the agency arrested the former chief engineer of the Jal board under the PMLA law last month. They also arrested a businessman under similar charges.
According to the agency, Jagdish Kumar Arora, the chief engineer of the Delhi Jal Board at the time, allegedly awarded a contract for the supply, installation, testing, and commissioning of electromagnetic flow meters to NKG Infrastructure Ltd. for ₹38 crore, despite the company not meeting the technical eligibility criteria. ED’s investigation showed that NKG Infrastructure Ltd. got the contract by submitting illegal or false documents.
Further inquiry revealed that NKG Infrastructure Ltd. subcontracted the job to Integral Screws Ltd., a company owned by Anil Kumar Aggarwal. Aggarwal allegedly bribed Jagdish Kumar Arora by transferring roughly ₹3 crore through cash and bank transactions after accepting payments. It was discovered as well that bribes were transferred through bank accounts belonging to Arora’s neighbors and relatives.
This comes days after the Enforcement Directorate met with a Delhi court against Kejriwal for disregarding the summons for the sixth time in the Delhi excise policy case.
The agency filed a new complaint under Section 190 (1)(a) Cr.P.C. r/w. Section 200 Cr.P.C., 1973 r/w. Section 174 IPC, 1860 r/w. Section 63 (4) of PMLA, 2002 for failure to appear in accordance with Section 50, PMLA, 2002.