Mr Kejriwal is already in jail over corruption charges linked to the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam being investigated by the Enforcement Directoray and Central Bureau of Investigation
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In an explosive turn of events Monday, Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena has called for an anti-terror probe into allegations Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal received political funding from the banned Sikhs For Justice group founded by wanted terrorist Gurpatwant Pannun.
Mr Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party hit back swiftly via senior leader Saurabh Bhardwaj, who dismissed the call for a probe by the National Investigation Agency as a “conspiracy” against the party and its leader. “LG sir is an agent of the BJP… This is another big conspiracy against Chief Minister Kejriwal at the behest of the BJP,” he said in a brief statement.
The allegations – the latest in a long-running and fierce war between the AAP and the Bharatiya Janata Party in power at the centre – come less than three weeks before the national capital votes in the general election. In 2019 the BJP won all Delhi’s seven seats.
In a detailed letter to the Union Home Secretary, Mr Saxena referred to a video (which he said was enclosed with the missive) in which Pannun declares Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party “received a staggering amount of $16 million in funding from Khalistani groups…”
“… Kejriwal purportedly promised to facilitate release of Devender Pal Bhullar, in return for substantial financial backing from Khalistani factions to Aam Aadmi Party…” the LG’s letter said, citing a complaint from a Hindu religious body and tweets by a former AAP worker.
The AAP boss also reportedly received money to “espouse pro-Khalistani sentiments”.
Bhullar, a former professor, was convicted in the 1993 Delhi bomb blasts case. In 2001 he was given the death sentence but that was later commuted to life imprisonment.
Arvind Kejriwal is already in jail over corruption charges linked to the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam that is being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation. Mr Kejriwal and the AAP have denied all charges, labelling them acts of “political vendetta” by the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election.