Senior Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) leader and Gujarat State Sah-Prabhari (co-in-charge) Durgesh Pathak pointed out that the recent Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raid at his residence was a politically motivated move to intimidate AAP as it gains ground in the state.
“The CBI searched every corner of my house for 3-4 hours but found nothing. I was not even told why the raid was conducted. It’s clear this was done to scare us because I’ve been made Gujarat Sah-Prabhari,” said Durgesh Pathak. He lambasted the BJP for using central agencies to crush opposition voices, jail leaders, and break their cadre in a bid to wipe out political challengers.
Addressing a press conference alongside AAP Delhi State President Saurabh Bharadwaj, AAP Gujarat Sah-Prabhari Durgesh Pathak, revealed on Thursday that a team of five to six CBI officials raided his residence. “The CBI team came to my house and carried out an intensive search for three to four hours. Every corner of my two-room house was checked, including the bed and cupboards. If they found a book, they flipped through every page,” he revealed.
Durgesh Pathak added, “Despite the exhaustive search, they found nothing. When I was an MLA, people would often visit me with their Aadhar card photocopies for work. Around 15–20 copies were lying at my home. The CBI team took those with them, but found nothing else.”
Durgesh Pathak also stated that he was never informed about the reason or case behind the raid. “They didn’t tell me anything. They just showed me a document and said they had a search warrant. I welcomed them into my home. I don’t know why they came or what they were looking for,” he said.
Linking the raid to political motives, the senior AAP leader said, “I’ve recently been made Gujarat Sah-Prabhari, and we’ve just started our work on the ground. I believe this raid was done to intimidate me and paralyse AAP’s campaign in Gujarat so that no one stands with us.”
Referring to AAP’s performance in the last Gujarat Assembly elections, he said, “We got over 41 lakh votes and 5 MLAs. AAP has emerged as a strong alternative in Gujarat. Soon after, our senior leader and MP Sanjay Singh was arrested. Now, this raid on me is clearly another attempt to intimidate and silence us.”
Asserting his commitment to due process, Durgesh Pathak said, “I am a responsible citizen and will fully cooperate with CBI and any other agency. I will provide all the information and documents they seek. But I will not be scared.”
Responding to media questions, he said, “The whole world knows that BJP wants to eliminate the opposition. They throw opposition leaders into jail, cut off their resources, and horse trade MLAs and workers. This is how the BJP works. So no one should be surprised by this raid.”
Durgesh Pathak added, “If BJP wants to crush AAP or any opposition party, this is their way of doing it. But this is extremely dangerous for democracy.”
