New Delhi, 9 April 2024
Addressing a press conference held at the party headquarters here today, senior Aam Aadmi Party leader and cabinet minister Saurabh Bhardwaj said that even in the case of Sanjay Singh, who did not get relief from the High Court, but got relief from the Supreme Court on arguments. It is often seen that if the decision of the District Court is wrong, then the High Court overturns it, and the Supreme Court overturns the wrong decisions of the High Court. The things which the High Court had said today about the approvers, are the same things that were said in the decision of 7 February 2024 on Sanjay Singh. But the Supreme Court did not accept these things and gave relief to Sanjay Singh.
Senior AAP leader Shri Saurabh Bharadwaj said looking at what has happened till now in the so-called excise case, it can be understood that this entire case is not about money laundering; this case is the biggest political conspiracy in the history of India. It is a conspiracy to crush and finish Shri Arvind Kejriwal, who is the foremost among the Chief Ministers of any state in India to have won with such huge votes and the most seats, and his political party and the two governments of Delhi and Punjab. Till now, we all have seen that it was a matter of thousands of crores of rupees, then it was a matter of hundreds of crores of rupees and then it was a matter of Rs 100 crores. But till now, the ED or the CBI has not made any recovery of even Rs 1 illegal money at any place. This is a big thing in itself. When crores of rupees are misappropriated and not even a single rupee is recovered, big questions arise on the investigation.
The cabinet minister said that it is being said repeatedly about the testimony of many witnesses. I want to tell you about some claims about the manner in which their testimony was taken. “It has come on record in courts repeatedly that there was pressure on the witnesses. The witnesses were beaten, intimidated, threatened and pressured to change their old testimony and give the statements that the ED wants, what the Central Government agency wants. And this is not my allegation, it is all on record,” he said.
Giving an example of the testimony obtained under duress, Shri Saurabh Bharadwaj said Chandan Reddy, who was pressurized to change his statement, has filed a writ in the High Court regarding this. His writ was that he was beaten so much that both his eardrums were burst. This writ was filed in the High Court. The writ was filed by him stating that the ED wanted him to change his statement and give a testimony as demanded.
Giving another example, the senior AAP leader said, “Arun Pillai’s statement is on record. He was intimidated and threatened to change his testimony. He was threatened about his family _ about his wife, about his daughter. This is not my allegation; this is on record in the court.”
Shri Saurabh Bharadwaj said similarly, Sameer Mahendru is on record that he said that his father was stopped by the ED in his office, his wife was stopped at the airport and in jail the ED tried to forcefully extract false statements from him. This is on record, he added.
The cabinet minister said apart from this, there are many such witnesses whom Sanjay Singh ji had mentioned in a press conference in April 2022. He (Sanjay Singh) had talked about all the witnesses and their statements in the courts, the things that have come on record, how the ED took false statements by intimidating the witnesses, added Shri Saurabh Bharadwaj.
The senior AAP minister said, “It can be said that this entire case is based on fake evidence and false witnesses, its very basis is a lie.”
Referring to the testimonies of liquor trader Magunta Reddy and his son, Shri Saurabh Bharadwaj said the biggest testimony that is being used against Arvind Kejriwal is about Magunta Reddy and his son Raghav Reddy. “All of us know about Magunta Reddy, who has been given (Lok Sabha) ticket in Andhra Pradesh by the TDP, (which is a part of) Prime Minister Modi ji’s NDA. Let me tell you about him also. The Chief Minister (Arvind Kejriwal) had also told this in the court. On 16 September 2022, a raid is conducted at Magunta Reddy’s place, he is asked about Arvind Kejriwal ji. He gives a statement under Section 17, there is nothing in his statement which is against Arvind Kejriwal ji. Five months pass, on 10 February 2023, ED arrests his son Raghav Reddy and puts him in jail. Raghav has made six statements in jail; his father has made several statements. In all the statements, he does not say anything against Arvind Kejriwal. This is on record. After that, when the son stays in jail for 5 months, the father, Magunta Reddy, gives up and on July 16, he changes his statement and gives a statement against Arvind Kejriwal for the first time. ED’s work is completed, Central Government’s work is completed. Raghav Reddy is released on 18 July. Since he is released on the condition that he has to give a statement against Arvind Kejriwal, he gives statements against Arvind Kejriwal. Whether it is a statement under section 50 (of PMLA) or a statement under section 164, what is its value if you scare and threaten a person. No matter if you take a scared person to a crossroads (in the open), he will lie there too,” he said.
Questioning the validity of a testimony taken under coercion, Shri Saurabh Bharadwaj said when you have given him bail only on the condition that you will be released only when you give a statement against Arvind Kejriwal, then what is the value of the testimony whether that is being given in front of the ED or in front of a magistrate. “It has been proved that his father (Magunta) and he were forced to give wrong and false testimony by intimidating him (Raghav), threatening him and showing him the fear of jail. This is proved, what is left in it. And these people have direct links with the Bharatiya Janata Party. This is proved because that man (Magunta) was in Jagan Reddy’s party till the time there was a bonhomie between Jagan Reddy’s party (YSR Congress Party) and NDA and when TDP became a part of NDA, he got the (Lok Sabha) ticket from the TDP. This is very clear,” added the senior AAP leader.
Shri Saurabh Bharadwaj said we respect the decision taken today by the High Court. The court is an institution. And we want to respectfully say that we do not agree with this decision. “We will go to the Supreme Court against this decision and present our views in the Supreme Court,” he said.
