Delhi Lieutenant Governor V. K. Saxena recommended a National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday. The recommendation is based on a complaint made by the World Hindu Federation India (WHFI) which alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) received political funding from the banned organisation ‘Sikhs for Justice’.
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This comes a day before Mr. Kejriwal’s bail hearing. He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 21 in connection with a money laundering case in the Delhi excise policy case and has been in judicial custody in Tihar jail since then.
Responding to the probe recommendations, AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “This is another big conspiracy against Mr. Kejriwal at the behest of the BJP.” The BJP is in panic due to fear of losing all the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, he said.
Sources in Raj Niwas said the WHFI complaint said Mr. Kejriwal had allegedly received $16 million from extremist ‘Khalistani’ groups for espousing ‘Pro-Khalistani’ sentiments. The complaint refers to a video released by the U.S.-based pro-Khalistan advocate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, in which he has alleged that AAP received $16 million from Khalistani groups between 2014 and 2022.
It has been alleged that Mr. Kejriwal held close-door meetings with Khalistani leaders at Gurudwara Richmond Hills, New York, during his visit in 2014, and promised to facilitate the release of convicted terrorist Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar in return for substantial financial backing, Raj Niwas sources said.
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva welcomed the recommendation and said Mr. Kejriwal’s silent support to Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) is well known since 2017, when, during the Punjab assembly election campaign, he stayed at the residence of KLF extremist leader Gurwinder Singh.
“All through his political career as well as the phase he operated as an NGO head, the country has seen that Arvind Kejriwal has always had a soft corner for separatist causes. His support for people like Yaseen Mallik is well known,” he said.
Mr. Bharadwaj said the BJP had made similar allegations ahead of the Punjab Assembly election in 2022 and Home Minister Amit Shah had ordered an investigation then. But nothing was found, he said. Mr. Bharadwaj said the same allegations are being made by BJP leader Ashok Mongia who is the general secretary of an organisation whose president is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s brother.
“By making these trite allegations, it is clear that the BJP is losing all the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi. The people of Delhi will respond to such cheap tactics by defeating the BJP which insulted CM Arvind Kejriwal, who has provided good education, health, free electricity and water,” Mr. Bhardwaj said.
He said Mr. Saxena is continuously adopting cheap tactics to tarnish the image of Mr. Kejriwal at the behest of the BJP.
In a post on X, the AAP leader said, “LG saab is desperately trying to make headlines during Election season. This is complete misuse of constitutional office of LG. The PIL demanding high level investigation in same matter was dismissed by Delhi High Court two years back. The Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Navin Chawla had rejected the plea filed by one Jagdish Sharma, stating that it is “completely frivolous”.”
