New Delhi:
The phone that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal used two years ago when the alleged liquor scam took place is missing, Enforcement Directorate sources said. When asked about it, the chief minister said he does not know where it is, sources said, quoting him. According to sources, this is the 171st phone, which is believed to contain relevant data about the missing liquor store in Delhi. Earlier, 170 such phones – belonging to 36 suspects – could not be located, the ED said.
Ultimately, the agency managed to locate 17 phones from which they collected data and pieced together the case, the ED has said in its chargesheet, naming senior Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia as an accused.
Investigators have claimed that the rest of the phones were broken to destroy evidence. So far, phones and laptops have provided the maximum amount of evidence in the case, the agency said in the complaint.
But the maximum number of suspects had switched phones and laptops between May 2022 and August 2022, the agency said.
AAP has ridiculed the claims. Sources in the party claimed that the Enforcement Directorate investigation “is being conducted from the BJP office”. The Enforcement Directorate, they alleged, is the “political partner of the BJP”.
Mr Kejriwal, arrested late on Thursday evening, is being questioned by the ED. He will remain in the agency’s custody until March 28.
The Delhi Chief Minister is discharging his duties from the ED lock-up, his party claims. On Sunday, he had issued his first order since his arrest regarding drinking water and drainage in the national capital, Delhi Minister Atishi said.
However, ED sources questioned this claim and said that Mr Kejriwal was not given any computer or paper in the lock-up.
For the arrested leaders of AAP, Holi would be a somber occasion that they would celebrate from behind bars.