Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain filed a criminal defamation case on Friday against sacked AAP leader Kapil Mishra and BJP-SAD MLA Manjinder S Sirsa over corruption allegations made by them against him.
Mishra had alleged that he saw Jain give Rs 2 crore in cash to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. He had also claimed that Jain had helped the CM seal several land deals.
Sirsa said he had information about a Rs 7 crore bribe that Jain had allegedly demanded.
Jain is already under the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Income Tax (I-T) department’s scrutiny for alleged money laundering by companies owned by him. This was before he became a minister in the Kejriwal government.
Mishra’s Latest ‘Exposé’
Continuing his attack on Kejriwal, Mishra held another press conference on Friday. He claimed that Kejriwal had opposed demonetisation as it threatened to "derail" his "money laundering" attempts.
Mishra, at an earlier press conference, had alleged that Rs 2 crore were funnelled into AAP through shell companies.
Why did he (Kejriwal) fiercely oppose demonetisation? Why did he travel across the country against the move? Because his men, who hoard black money, were being raided by enforcement agencies.
Mukesh Sharma – Kejriwal’s Scapegoat?
On 18 May, Kejriwal had re-tweeted a news video in which a Delhi-based businessman, Mukesh Sharma, claims he had made the Rs 2 crore funding to AAP.
In the video, Sharma says that he donated the money to AAP since they are serving the poor.
Mishra questioned Sharma’s statement in his latest press conference. He alleged that the companies owned by Sharma that made four donations of Rs 50 lakh each to AAP didn’t exist and that Sharma was being used as a scapegoat by the Delhi CM.
With the help of various documents and videos, Mishra alleged that one of Sharma’s companies had been served a notice by the Delhi government for defaulting on VAT payments and it had been closed for 6 years now. Mishra said:
Ten days before AAP took office in 2013, Sharma’s company was slapped a notice by the Delhi government for not paying VAT. And then this person goes on to donate Rs 2 crore to AAP.
He also questioned Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia for not acting against Sharma for defaulting on VAT after coming to power in 2013.
Mishra also alleged that Kejriwal was highlighting Sharma’s name to conceal the identity of a certain Hem Prakash Sharma.
The Delhi Chief Minister is yet to respond to Mishra’s allegations.
(With inputs from PTI)
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