New Delhi: Delhi Lieutenant Governor (L-G) V.K. Saxena has recommended a probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against jailed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for allegedly receiving political funding from the banned terrorist organisation Sikhs For Justice (SFJ).
In a letter to the Union Home Secretary, Saxena stated that he had received a complaint that the Kejriwal-led AAP had received $16 million from extremist “Khalistani” groups, including SFJ led by Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, for “facilitating the release of Devendra [Devinder] Pal Bhullar (convict in a 1993 Delhi bomb blast case) and for espousing pro-Khalistan sentiments”.
The complaint was sent to the L-G by Ashoo Mongia, national secretary of the World Hindu Federation, a non-profit advocacy organisation of Hindu diaspora communities.
According to Saxena’s letter, a copy of which is with ThePrint, he stated that since the complaint has been made against a chief minister and relates to political funding received from a banned terrorist organisation, “the electronic evidence adduced by the complainant requires investigation including forensic examination”.
The L-G said the complainant had requested a comprehensive inquiry into the allegations regarding the funding of the AAP by SFJ, and keeping in view the sensitivity and seriousness of the allegations, the Ministry of Home Affairs should consider referring the matter to the NIA for a comprehensive investigation.
In a video released this March, Pannun had alleged that the AAP had received a staggering $16 million (approximately Rs 133.54 crore) from Khalistani groups between 2014 and 2022.
Reacting to the L-G’s letter, AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj termed Saxena as an “agent of the BJP”.
“This is yet another conspiracy against CM Arvind Kejriwal. The BJP is losing all seven seats in Delhi in the Lok Sabha polls and this is just a reaction to that. They are panicking,” he told reporters.
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‘Funding, meeting with pro-Khalistan leaders in New York’
According to Saxena’s letter, the complainant referred, in his communication to the L-G, to the contents of a video purportedly featuring Pannun wherein he alleged that the AAP received $16 million in funding from “Khalistani” groups.
The letter says it has also been alleged that a clandestine meeting took place in 2014 between Kejriwal and “pro-Khalistan” Sikhs at Gurdwara Richmond Hill in New York, and during the meeting, Kejriwal purportedly promised to facilitate the release of Bhullar in return for “substantial backing from Khalistani factions to the AAP”.
Quoting from the original complaint, sent to the L-G’s office in April, the letter says that Kejriwal wrote to former President Pranab Mukherjee seeking clemency for Bhullar.
In a series of posts on social media, a former AAP worker, Dr Munish Kumar Raizada, also shared pictures of this meeting at Gurdwara Richmond Hills, New York, the L-G’s letter says, citing the complaint.
Referring to the original complaint, the letter said Kejriwal also wrote 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 an SIT, etc. sympathetically and in a time-bound manner”.
Iqbal Singh was sitting on a fast at Jantar Mantar, demanding a written assurance for the release of Bhullar, and he ended his fast after receiving the letter from Kejriwal, the L-G’s letter said.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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