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In Delhi, the difficulties of the Aam Aadmi Party do not seem to be decreasing. The CBI has registered an FIR against the former AAP MLA and the party’s Gujarat election cum Durgesh Pathak. In this connection, the CBI searched the reader’s campuses on Thursday. This action has been taken against Pathak for receiving foreign donations for his party.
New Delhi: In Delhi, the difficulties of the Aam Aadmi Party do not seem to be decreasing. The CBI has registered an FIR against the former AAP MLA and the party’s Gujarat election cum Durgesh Pathak. In this connection, the CBI searched the reader’s campuses on Thursday. This action has been taken against Pathak for receiving foreign donations for his party. Apart from Pathak, the agency has also registered a case against Kapil Bhardwaj, another party official in the case. An FIR was lodged on the complaint of the Ministry of Home Affairs, in which it was alleged that the party has received foreign donations in violation of the provisions.
Attempt to scare him due to the popularity of the party growing in Gujarat: Reader
During the investigation, the top leaders of the party may be asked to join the investigation and clarify about the alleged discrepancies in the records. Senior leaders of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), including Pathak, criticized the government for the CBI action, saying that this is a conspiracy arising out of fear and an attempt to intimidate them due to their growing political activities in Gujarat. Pathak later said in a press conference that a team of five-six CBI officers came to my house and searched for about three-four hours of every corner of my two-room campus.
They did not tell me why they have come or for which matter. He showed me a search warrant. He searched everywhere, but nothing was found. He said that I think they came to scare me, because I have started working for you in Gujarat. They came so that no one in Gujarat will join us. He said that he arrested Sanjay Singh when AAP became five MLAs in Gujarat and he emerged as a good option in the state.
Accused of taking foreign funds through an institution called ‘AAP Overseas India’
According to the FIR, AAP formed an institution called “AAP Overseas India” with volunteers in countries like America, Canada, Australia etc. to raise foreign funds for the party in India. The FIR alleges that “In 2016, there was a conversation between Aniket Saxena (Coordinator of MP Overseas India) and then MP Overseas India convenor Kumar Vishwas during an email.
This conversation revealed that Durgesh Pathak and Kapil Bhardwaj had asked Aniket to transfer 29 thousand US dollars directly to Durgesh Pathak and Kapil Bhardwaj through Bhagwant Toor. The Ministry of Home Affairs sent the case to the CBI on the basis of ED’s findings, which found that the party had received a donation of Rs 1.08 crore from 155 persons living abroad on 404 occasions using 55 passport numbers. The FIR alleges that an amount of US $ 11786 was collected at a Toronto program in February 2016.
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