Delhi AAP Minister Atishi claimed on Sunday that the court had stated in its order that there is “no evidence” to substantiate or corroborate the alleged corruption. She demanded an apology from the Bharatiya Janata Party for allegedly “defaming” former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia over the excise policy case.
Asserting that “pressure was put on people to give false statements,” she said that BJP leaders should hold a press conference and apologise to the country for spreading lies in order to defame Manish Sisodia.
Addressing a press conference, Atishi said, “There were two major allegations. First: Rs 100 crore bribe was received. Second: The amount was spent for Goa elections”.
“But the Rouse Avenue court order, through which two people got bail. The order should be read properly, as it makes it clear that ED and CBI have no evidence of the corruption of even 1 Rupee. The judge repeatedly said in the 86-page order that there is no evidence,” she added.
The Delhi Minister claimed that the Rouse Avenue court has stated in the order that there is no “specific evidence” to show the corruption.
“The first allegation is that under the corruption, Rs 100 crore was given to AAP through kickbacks. BJP, as well as ED and CBI, were alleging that among those giving kickbacks was present businessman Gautam Malhotra,” she said.
Atishi added citing the court order, “There is no specific evidence showing any such cash evidence of bribe or repayment of kickbacks. The only evidence presented has been some vague statements by witnesses, and on the basis of these statements, it cannot be inferred that cash payments were given as bribes.”
She further alleged that ED had earlier mentioned Rs 100 crore, but later stated the amount as Rs 30 crore in the chargesheet.
“The story of ED started with Rs 100 crore, but then itself came down to Rs 30 crore, as the agency has mentioned Rs 30 crore in its chargesheet. It was also alleged that a person named Rajesh Joshi took these Rs 30 crore of bribes to Goa. The court has also stated that there is no independent evidence collected by the agency to substantiate or corroborate this fact,” she said.
The AAP leader also alleged that ED has mentioned only “Rs 19 lakh” being spent by the party during the Goa elections.
“The second allegation was the bribe money was used for Goa elections. But, after conducting raids for six months, the court said that only Rs 19 lakh was spent through cash, and the rest was spent through cheque,” Atishi added.
Slamming BJP, Atishi demanded the party leaders to apologise for “defaming” the former deputy CM.
“Now, we hope that BJP leaders should do a press conference and apologise to the nation, for peddling lies for defaming Manish Sisodia. People are being pressurised to give statements. We saw three people take their statement back and alleged being pressurised. It was also alleged that 14 phones were broken, but all those phones are working. Then, Sanjay Singh’s name was also brought, but later ED accepted its mistake,” she said.
The party will appeal for Manish Sisodia’s bail, Atishi added. Manish Sisodia, a former deputy chief minister of Delhi, is currently incarcerated for alleged irregularities in the excise case.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) detained Sisodia as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the excise policy in Delhi that has since been scrapped.
On February 26 of this year, Sisodia was detained by the CBI. After spending hours being questioned at Tihar Jail later on March 9, the ED made the arrest.
Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, was additionally called by the ED for questioning in the case later in April.
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