AAP worker Charanpreet Singh has been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for allegedly collecting money from hawala operators and distributing it for expenses during the 2022 Goa Assembly election campaign of the party. The CBI had arrested media executive Arvind Kumar Singh last week for allegedly transferring Rs 17 crore to Chariot Media, which handled outdoor advertising for the AAP during the Goa polls. Charanpreet Singh handled a portion of this Rs 17 crore for distribution, according to officials. The CBI FIR has alleged that the Delhi Excise Policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge strongly refuted by the ruling AAP. The policy was later scrapped.
The agency has alleged that kickbacks of around Rs 90-100 crore were paid in advance to some AAP leaders in Delhi and public servants by some people in the liquor business from south India through co-accused Vijay Nair, Abhishek Boinpally and Dinesh Arora. The AAP on Tuesday accused ED and CBI officials of threatening witnesses to give statements in the Delhi excise policy case and claimed it has proof of how “this conspiracy” is being hatched against the party and its national convenor Arvind Kejriwal.
AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh alleged that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of India (CBI) were taking statements in the case “at gunpoint”. “There are two or three officials in ED and CBI who are working at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I want to tell them to do their work with honesty,” the Rajya Sabha MP said.
