New Delhi [India], May 18 : Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Delhi President Saurabh Bharadwaj on Monday reacted to the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) arrest of AAP leader Deepak Singla in an alleged money laundering case, alleging a pattern of political targeting linked to elections.
Speaking to ANI, Bharadwaj said, "...When the Delhi elections were approaching, starting from 2022, the ED began relentlessly pursuing the Aam Aadmi Party. Throughout 2022, 2023, and 2024, ministers were arrested one after another: Satyendar Jain, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, and finally, Arvind Kejriwal was arrested. Then, everything went quiet."
He further alleged that enforcement agencies were being used selectively across states.
"Subsequently, in Bengal, the ED, CBI, and Income Tax Department began conducting raids on a daily basis...Now that the Bengal elections are over, the focus has shifted to the upcoming elections in Punjab and Goa; consequently, the ED is now conducting daily raids on our MPs in Punjab," he said.
Referring to the latest arrest, Bharadwaj said, "The same pattern was followed with Mr Singla, a raid was conducted first. Things didn't work out; now they raided again and made an arrest."
AAP MLA Kuldeep Kumar also reacted to the arrest of Deepak Singla, alleging political pressure behind the action.
He said, "He refused to join the BJP; that is why his house is being raided. The BJP's sole agenda is precisely to intimidate and threaten people."
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday arrested Singla in connection with an alleged bank fraud case.
Officials said it has been gathered from reliable sources that Deepak Singla is allegedly handling the hawala operations for the movement of funds for the Aam Aadmi Party between Delhi and Goa.
The officials said that Deepak Singla along with his uncle Ashok Kumar Mittal and brother Raman Singla and Harish Singla, allegedly defrauded Oriental Bank of Commerce of more than 150 crore.
"The money was sent to controlled firms in Singapore. It is also suspected that, the such proceeds of crime are routed back to India allegedly through hawala route to be infused back in alleged illegal activities of Deepak Singla. In relation to this PMLA fraud, Deepak Singla has been arrested by ED today," officials said.
Officials had said earlier that Singla was arrested in connection with an alleged bank fraud case. The ED conducted a raid at Singla's residence in Delhi as part of its investigation into the alleged fraud case.
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