Delhi L-G recommends NIA probe against Arvind Kejriwal over ‘Khalistani funding of AAP’

Tribune News Service

Samad Hoque

New Delhi, May 6

Delhi Lt Governor VK Saxena has recommended an NIA probe against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over the allegations that the Aam Aadmi Party received political funding from Sikhs for Justice, a pro-Khalistan terror outfit banned in India.

In a letter to Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, Principal Secretary to the L-G, said Saxena had received a complaint alleging AAP had received $16 million (approx Rs 134 crore) from extremist Khalistani groups for “aiding the release of 1993 Delhi bomb blast convict Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar and espousing pro-Khalistani sentiments”. The complaint was sent by World Hindu Federation (India) national general secretary Ashoo Mongia.

Complaint tags Pannun video

• The L-G office quoted a complaint by World Hindu Federation (India) national gen secy Ashoo Mongia which refers to a video released by Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, wherein he alleges that AAP received $16 mn (approx Rs 134 cr) from Khalistani groups between 2014 and 2022

Conspiracy at BJP’s behest: AAP

• Lt Governor VK Saxena’s recommendation of an NIA probe against Arvind Kejriwal is yet another conspiracy against the Delhi CM at the behest of the BJP, alleged AAP leader and Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Monday and called the L-G “an agent” of the saffron party.

Row over 1993 delhi blast case convict Bhullar’s release

• A professor at Guru Nanak Engineering College, Ludhiana, Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar was booked under TADA in September 1993 in Delhi bomb blasts case, and awarded death penalty on August 25, 2001
• SC commuted his death sentence to life on March 31, 2014. Bhullar was shifted from Tihar Jail to Central Jail, Amritsar, in 2015
• A row erupted after Delhi Sentence Review Board, which has Delhi jail minister as a member, rejected Bhullar’s plea for premature release for the seventh time and for the first time after AAP formed govt in Punjab in 2022
• AAP govt in Delhi defended itself, saying 6 of the 7 board members were from BJP

“The L-G has recommended that since the complaint has been made against a sitting Chief Minister and relates to political funding by a banned terrorist organisation, electronic evidences adduced by the complainant require investigation, including forensic examination,” the L-G’s letter to the Union Home Secretary said.

The L-G has also referred to the Union Home Ministry a letter written by Kejriwal to one Iqbal Singh in January 2014, mentioning that “the AAP government has already recommended to the President the release of Prof Bhullar and would be working on other issues, including formation of SIT, etc, sympathetically and in a time-bound manner”.

Iqbal Singh was on a fast at Jantar Mantar, demanding a written assurance for the release of Bhullar and ended his fast after receiving the letter from Kejriwal.

The complaint by Mongia refers to a video released by Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, wherein he alleges that AAP received $16 million from Khalistani groups between 2014 and 2022.

“It has also been alleged that Kejriwal held close-door meetings with Khalistani leaders at Gurdwara Richmond Hills, New York, during his visit in 2014, wherein he promised to facilitate the release of Bhullar in return for substantial financial backing from Khalistani factions to AAP. In a series of posts on social media, a former AAP worker, Dr Munish Kumar Raizada, has shared pictures of Kejriwal’s said meeting with Khalistani leaders at Gurdwara Richmond Hills, New York,” the communication by LG’s principal secretary said.

The letter LG has forwarded to the MHA for action and probe contains allegations and electronic evidences produced by Mongia to back his allegations and social media posts by Raizada. The complaint has also appended some pictures of the alleged meeting.

Kejriwal had in January 2014 written to then President Pranab Mukherjee, seeking clemency for Bhullar. Kejriwal’s party had in the 2014 Lok Sabha election bagged four seats in Punjab, defeating stalwarts like Preneet Kaur, then in the Congress, from Patiala.

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