Shah admitted ED intended to arrest CM from Day 1: Atishi

New Delhi, May 3

Senior AAP leader Atishi has claimed that Union Home Minister Amit Shah has “revealed” the BJP’s plan to target Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, confirming the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) intent to arrest him from the outset, when he was summoned for questioning.

Atishi reiterated these assertions during a press conference on Friday. She claimed that the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi fear Kejriwal and the true motive behind the prolonged excise policy investigation was to arrest him.

Atishi pointed out that Shah himself stated that the BJP-ruled Central Government and their ED had the intention from the very first day to arrest Kejriwal and incarcerate him. She pointed at a media interview of Shah, in which he purportedly clarified that the intention of the BJP — and their “political tool” the ED — was to summon him under the pretext of investigation and arrest him.

She claimed that the BJP-ruled Central Government, along with the ED and the CBI, had been scrutinising the excise policy for the past two years. Despite questioning numerous officers and thousands of raids, not a single rupee had been recovered from any AAP leader. Atishi alleged that through concocting false conspiracies and lodging fake cases, AAP leaders were being systematically arrested.

Satyendar Jain was the first AAP leader to be arrested in a money laundering case, followed by Manish Sisodia. Sanjay Singh, who was granted bail this month, was arrested in connection with the excise policy case. On March 21, Arvind Kejriwal was also arrested.

“Since the day Kejriwal began receiving the ED summons, the AAP has openly declared that this is a ploy to arrest him, rather than for any genuine investigation,” the AAP leader asserted.

“PM Narendra Modi and Shah fear that Kejriwal would expose the 10 years of misrule by the BJP. That’s why he has been arrested,” Atishi concluded.