New Delhi: Delhi social welfare minister Raaj Kumar Anand today (April 10) resigned from his minister’s post and from the Aam Aadmi Party, citing corruption.
In November 2023, the Enforcement Directorate had raided 13 premises linked to him in what the central agency claimed was a customs money laundering case. The investigation against Anand was based on the prosecution complaint filed by the Department of Revenue Intelligence, reports had said.
Indian Express reported that the ED had alleged that it had evidence of unaccounted business investments and hawala payments sent to China in 2023. “This, according to the agency, was apart from Rs 74 lakh in cash along with various incriminating documents/digital records that were also recovered,” the report said.
Anand had shared a video of recently released AAP MP Sanjay Singh’s press conference on social media hours before announcing that he has quit.
The Enforcement Directorate has emerged as the Narendra Modi government’s agency of choice when it comes to opposition leaders, with a significant four-fold jump in action against critics in since 2014, when Modi came to power. Almost 95% of the cases probed by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation against political leaders are from the opposition.
The agency has arrested Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia and party MP Sanjay Singh in a liquor policy case.
Anand reportedly said after quitting, “Arvind Kejriwal once said at Ramlila Maidan, Jantar Mantar ‘the country will change if the politics changes’. Today the politics didn’t change but the politician changed.”
