Mann: Probe agencies have nothing against Kejriwal

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday said the central investigating agencies have nothing against his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal, and other AamAadmi Party (AAP) leaders, who are facing charges in the alleged excise policy scam.

Talking to reporters at Nanded airport, Mann said AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh have been released from jail, and Kejriwal too will soon come out of prison. Mann arrived in Maharashtra’s Nanded during the day to attend a programme at Takhat Sachkhand Sri Hazur Sahib Gurdwara. He said the investigating agencies have nothing on Kejriwal, who is in jail in a corruption case registered by the CBI in the alleged excise scam. “I will pray for him (Kejriwal).

AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh have come out. They (investigating agencies) have nothing, and they are just buying time to keep our leaders in jail,” he said. Mann claimed this was a plot to break the AAP. “But Arvind Kejriwal represents a thought. You can arrest a person, but not a thought. Kejriwal will come out soon, and I will do ‘ardas’ (prayer) for him,” he said.

Sisodia, former deputy chief minister of Delhi, walked out of Tihar Jail after 17 months behind bars on August 9, after the Supreme Court granted him bail. He was arrested by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in corruption and money laundering cases linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam. AAP leader Singh was granted bail in April in the money laundering case linked to the scam.