'BJP uses ED in corruption cases instead of CBI to...': Congress' Sandeep Dikshit on ED raids against AAP leader

Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit (PTI file photo)

Reacting to the raids by the Enforcement Directorate against Aam Aam Party (AAP) leader Saurabh Bhardwaj, Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) uses ED instead of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in corruption cases to make political gains.

The Congress leader alleged that the BJP has a pattern to use ED against the Opposition leaders to influence them politically.

"The case related to the hospital is a corruption case. I dont know about the money laundering angle. But I observe a particular style of the BJP. Important anti-corruption cases in which the CBI should inquire are given to the ED," Dikshit told news agency ANI.

He said that the BJP uses the ED to threaten (the leaders of Opposition parties).

"They (BJP) gain political gain from it. They influenced the AAP. AAP also left the INDIA Alliance and is contesting their candidates against the INDIA Alliance. It (raids) may not be about corruption but to influence the AAP," Dikshit claimed.

The ED searched the premises of Bharadwaj and some private contractors as part of a money laundering probe linked to an alleged scam in health infrastructure projects during the previous AAP government in Delhi, official sources told news agency PTI.

At least 13 locations in the National Capital Region have been searched under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, they said.

"We have said it earlier also that the previous AAP government led by Arvind Kejriwal looted Delhi through scams. Now the party is trying to fool people in other states," Sachdeva said.

The ED raids against Bharadwaj have exposed the "medical scam" under the previous AAP government, he said.

Delhi BJP MLA Harish Khurana alleged that the AAP government paid contractors' bills, even though no work was done on the ground for the construction of hospitals.

The ED investigation against Bharadwaj (45) stems from an FIR registered by Delhi's Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) in June.

The ACB booked Bharadwaj, his party colleague and ex-health minister Satyendar Jain, private contractors and unknown government officials for alleged corruption in health infrastructure projects by the former AAP government.

The AAP on Tuesday said raids against Bharadwaj were an attempt to divert attention from questions being raised about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's degree and that the case against the party leader was false.

With inputs from agencies