Enforcement Directorate Raids Delhi Minister's Residence Ahead Of Kejriwal Questioning

On Thursday morning, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted raids at the residence of Delhi's minister, Raaj Kumar Anand, and at nine other properties associated with him. These actions took place just before the scheduled questioning of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by the agency. While Kejriwal is to be probed in connection with a money laundering investigation related to Delhi's liquor policy, the raids at Raaj Kumar Anand's premises were initiated due to a charge sheet filed by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI). This charge sheet alleges false declarations in imports, leading to customs evasion of over ₹7 crore, as well as involvement in international hawala transactions, according to insider sources.

Raaj Kumar Anand, an MLA representing Patel Nagar, had previously been in charge of the education and health ministries. However, these roles were later reassigned to Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj after the resignations of Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain earlier in the year.

These developments occur against the backdrop of ongoing legal actions involving prominent members of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), with Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain, and AAP MP Sanjay Singh currently in detention on various charges. Kejriwal, who is set to be interrogated by the ED regarding the liquor case, had previously faced questioning by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in April, where he was interviewed for a prolonged nine-hour session.

In response to these developments, the Aam Aadmi Party expressed concerns about the potential arrest of Kejriwal. Delhi's Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj suggested that if Kejriwal were to be arrested, the party and the Delhi government would continue to function from within the confines of a jail. AAP's Rajya Sabha MP, Raghav Chadha, warned that after Kejriwal, other opposition leaders might also become targets and face imprisonment in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. These leaders could include Hemant Soren, Tejashwi Yadav, Mamata Banerjee, Abhishek Banerjee, MK Stalin, Pinarayi Vijayan, among others.