New Delhi: The AAP on Wednesday reacted strongly to the arrest of its leader Sanjay Singh in connection with the Delhi excise policy case, saying the Enforcement Directorate action is “completely illegal” and shows the BJP’s frustration as it is going to lose the 2024 polls to the INDIA bloc.
In a video message recorded before the ED took him into custody following daylong searches at his premises, Singh claimed he was being arrested “without any evidence” and vowed to keep raising his voice against corruption.
“I accept dying but not bowing down,” he said. “I exposed Adani’s scams and filed multiple complaints with the ED but no action was taken against Adani. Modi ji is losing the 2024 elections badly.”
He said the BJP cannot win by committing “atrocities” and putting people behind bars. “I had earlier also spoken against Adani’s scams, I will continue to do so in the future as well. We are soldiers of (Arvind) Kejriwal and will not back down in the face of atrocities.”
AAP supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal claimed more opposition leaders will be arrested in the run-up to the parliamentary elections. “The arrest of Sanjay Singh is completely illegal. This shows (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi ji’s nervousness,” he said in a post on X.
Kejriwal said the ED raids at Singh’s residence was the “last desperate attempt” of a party staring at defeat in the Lok Sabha polls.
“For the last one year, we have seen there is a cacophony surrounding an alleged ‘liquor scam’. To date there hasn’t been any recovery of money, more than a thousand such raids have been conducted and many people have been arrested,” he told reporters while visiting the Okhla landfill site.
“ED, CBI, I-T and police – all the agencies will become active as the elections come closer. Many such raids will happen. But there is no need to be scared,” he added in the post.
He visited Singh’s house and met with his family after the arrest. RJD MP Manoj Jha also visited the Rajya Sabha MP’s house.
Singh was taken into custody Wednesday evening by the Enforcement Directorate, the second high-profile AAP leader arrested in this case after Manish Sisodia. Early this morning, ED officials swooped on Singh’s official residence in North Avenue and conducted searches. After day-long questioning, Singh was arrested under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The party shared a video in which Singh is touching his mother’s feet before leaving his house. “Chinta na karo, himmat se raho (Don’t worry. Be courageous,” he told her.
In another video shared by the party, Singh’s wife alleged agency officials could not find anything during the raids. “They were under pressure to arrest Sanjay Singh. And that is what they have done. I am with him. Our children, our family are with him.”
He has been taken away in a “false case”, she claimed.
Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said the excise case is an imaginary scam that has been under scrutiny for the past 15 months.
“The ED and CBI have conducted at least a thousand raids, but not a single rupee of corruption has been found. It is now being said that Sanjay Singh is also involved in this imaginary scam, but nothing will be found at his place either. Their sources will certainly say that they have found a lot, but when they go to court, they will claim they found nothing,” he told a press conference as the raids unfolded.
He said Singh is one of the formidable voices in the opposition and he has been questioning the Centre over a range of issues.
“The Centre is trying to suppress his voice… The BJP’s Centre government is on the way out. They are taking desperate steps in the last moment to salvage their situation. We strongly condemn such raids and hope that elections happen quickly and people say bye bye to the BJP,” Bharadwaj said.
After Singh was arrested, he addressed another press conference jointly with senior leader Atishi and party spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar.
He alleged there is a lot of anti-BJP sentiments on ground. “Yesterday, an attempt was made to show renowned journalists as traitors and today they have arrested Sanjay Singh without a shred of evidence.”
Echoing similar views, cabinet minister Atishi said the BJP was scared of those who raise their voices against the party.
“The BJP is scared of Sanjay Singh. The BJP is scared of AAP. History shows that whenever a tyrannical government sees someone raising their voice against them, they try to suppress it,” she said.
“But we are soldiers. We won’t be silenced. If you arrest one Sanjay Singh, thousands of Sanjay Singhs will stand and raise their voice. Sanjay Singh’s arrest is the beginning of the end for BJP,” she said.
In a post on social media platform X, she said, “Who knows how much more the BJP will stoop due to its fear.. Before the elections, their frustration of losing to INDIA is clearly visible. After Manish ji and Satyendra ji, the government also arrested Sanjay Bhaiya, who raised the voice of the people strongly.”
AAP chief national spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar called the raids a manifestation of “vendetta” politics.
“This is the most significant evidence that this is low-level politics. It is a politics of revenge, an attempt to discredit someone. In the past 15 months, many people have been harassed in jails, but nothing has been found. This proves that it is a politics of vendetta,” she said.
Delhi Cabinet minister Gopal Rai claimed the panic of the impending defeat in the Lok Sabha polls was the reason behind the raids.
“The way journalists were targeted on October 3 also indicates an attempt to silence any voice against those in power, which I believe is against democracy. The BJP should have trust in the people. Misusing agencies to silence voices won’t win elections, and history states this,” he said.
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