The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
‘ Top BJP leaders behind liquor scam’: AAP MP Sanjay Singh
THE TOP leadership of the BJP is behind the actual Delhi liquor scam, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh alleged Friday, seeking to link one of the accused in the case to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In response, the BJP termed the allegations laughable and demanded why the AAP- Delhi government retracted the liquor policy if there were no issues.
Addressing a press conference, Singh — released on bail in the excise policy case on Wednesday — promised to expose an alleged conspiracy against AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal.
“It is not the small fry of the BJP that are involved, but senior post holders... One person named Magunta Reddy [ four- time MP from Ongole] gave three testimonies... his son Raghava gave seven testimonies... When the ED first asked on September 16 whether he ( Magunta Reddy) had met Kejriwal, he had answered honestly then... he had met the CM regarding an issue with a charitable trust’s land. But after that, his son was arrested and jailed for five months... Then he changed his statement,” Singh alleged.
Raghava is an accusedturned- approver in the excise case. Reddy got a Lok Sabha ticket from Telugu Desam Party, a key BJP ally in Andhra Pradesh.
Singh added, “From February 10 to July 16, 7 testimonies were taken from Raghava Magunta... six out of seven times he was asked if Kejriwal was involved... he kept refusing. But he broke down after 5 months of being jailed. On the 7th testimonial, he changed tune...”
These 10 testimonies, Singh alleged, “mysteriously disappeared” with the ED suddenly declaring it could not trust these statements and put them under ‘ unrelied upon documents”.
“Any statement that said there was no involvement of Kejriwal... the ED said they could not trust...,” Singh alleged.
“The father- son duo had nowhere taken the name of Kejriwal in 9 of their statements... They were coerced into... testifying against him. But who are Magunta Reddy and his son Raghava? I shall show you a picture... He was pictured with the country’s PM,” Singh said, as a picture of Reddy and Modi shaking hands appeared on a screen behind him.
Singh also said the house of liquor merchant Sharath Chandra Reddy, a co- accused in the case, was raided on November 9, 2022. “He gave 12 statements... He was arrested on November 10... The ED kept pushing him to give a statement against Kejriwal but he refused. After six months… he broke down. On April 25, he gave a statement against Kejriwal,” the AAP MP said.
“The real scam started after the ED began its probe... those with the BJP received a reward of Rs 5 crore on November 15... a total of Rs 55 crore was given as bribes to the BJP by so- called kingpin Sharath Reddy,” he alleged. On March 21 the electoral bonds data was put up which showed “Sharath Reddy as the liquor scam kingpin”, he added. “Barely 20 minutes after the data related to this was up, a raid was carried out on the CM’S house... to distract people from that news,” Singh alleged.
“The truth is the liquor scam was carried out by the BJP... It is a conspiracy against the CM where statements supporting his innocence were buried... I want to tell the people that your CM has lived his life with 100% integrity and will continue to do so,” he added.
Reacting to the allegations, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva alleged that AAP’S leaders had become synonymous with “lies, looting, cunningness, and dishonesty”.
“Sanjay Singh needs to explain whether there was a meeting between him and members of the Restaurant Owners Association at night when the liquor policy was being changed and whether money was collected from them or not,” he said, adding that Singh needed to understand that coming out on bail is not like being acquitted for a crime.