Sacked Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) minister Kapil Mishra was suspended from the party’s primary membership at the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) meeting on Monday, a day after he levelled corruption charges against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his former cabinet colleague Satyendra Jain.
Earlier in the day, the former Water and Tourism Minister demanded that lie detector tests be conducted on him, Mr. Kejriwal and Mr. Jain. This was followed by him seeking an appointment with the CBI and the Capital's Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) office for Tuesday.
Mr. Mishra reached the ACB office at 11 a.m. with a sealed envelope, supposedly containing evidence against Mr. Kejriwal and two other senior AAP functionaries and close aides of the Chief Minister in delaying the probe into the ₹400 crore water tanker scam.
According to a source, Mr. Mishra's complaint to Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, alleging that he was an eyewitness to ₹2 crore changing hands between Mr. Kejriwal and Mr. Jain, however, had not been forwarded to the ACB; it is expected to be forwarded to the CBI by Raj Niwas on Tuesday.
“I have told the officials how Arvind Kejriwal deliberately delayed the probe and how the public money was misused,” Mr. Mishra said after a short meeting with ACB chief Mukesh Kumar Meena.
“Mr. Mishra presented an application stating that he wanted to become a witness in the ongoing investigation related to the water tanker scam; he has been requested to make himself available at any time he wishes tomorrow [Tuesday]. His detailed statement will be recorded as and when he chooses to appear tomorrow,” Mr. Meena told The Hindu.
Responding to the allegations, Senior AAP leaders, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh and Dilip Pandey, came to Mr. Kejriwal’s rescue saying that Mr. Mishra was repeating the script that BJP has been following.
“They have been tying to pin the water tanker scam on AAP and it is disappointing that Kapil Mishra has also now joined their wagon,” said AAP national spokesperson, Mr. Pandey.
They also asked Mr. Mishra to produce details of his visit to the CM’s residence on Friday, when this alleged exchange of ₹2 crore took place.
Mr. Mishra told the media later in the evening that he would produce all the evidence before the CBI on Tuesday morning. He also said the ₹50 crore land deal which cabinet minister Satyendra Jain had facilitated for Mr. Kejriwal’s “relative”, was for a farmhouse in Chattarpur. “They want to know the relative’s name. It was Arvind Kejriwal’s brother-in-law,” he said.
Grim coincidence
Chief Minister Kejriwal meanwhile attended the funeral of the very relative he has been accused of extending pecuniary benefits to by Mr. Mishra.
Deputy minister Manish Sisodia lashed out at Mr. Mishra for dragging the name of Mr. Kejriwal's brother-in-law Surendra Bansal, who passed away on Monday morning.
“He (Mr. Mishra) is defaming a man who died this morning. Just hours after his cremation we hear of such baseless allegations against him. He should be ashamed to play politics over a dead person,” he said.
Mr. Jain also broke his silence and announced that he would file a defamation case against the Karawal Nagar MLA. Trashing allegations made against him, Mr Jain said he did not visit the Chief Minister’s house on Friday.
