New Delhi: Police conducted a raid at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s data management office in Ahmedabad on Sunday, September 11, the party said while claiming the ruling BJP is “extremely rattled” by the “immense support” it is getting in the run-up to the Gujarat Assembly polls.
The assembly polls are slated to be held later in the year.
The latest reported searches come after a series of raids, searches and arrests by central agencies targeting AAP leaders. The Enforcement Directorate on May 30 arrested AAP’s Himachal Pradesh election coordinator and Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain in a five-year-old money laundering case. Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia’s house was raided on August 19 by the Central Bureau of Investigations over alleged corruption in the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22.
However, the Ahmedabad police said no raid was carried out. “We learnt from social media that it is being claimed that city police raided the AAP office on Sunday. No such raid was conducted by the city police,” the Ahmedabad Police said on their official Twitter handle.
After the Ahmedabad police denied raiding the AAP office, the party’s Gujarat unit president Gopal Italia on Monday claimed the Navrangpura police staff carried out a “search-cum-raid” at the data management office of the party’s state unit at around 8:30 pm on Sunday.
“Some policemen came to our data management office to carry out a search operation-cum-raid. They told our on-duty staff that they are attached with Navrangpura police station and also showed their I-cards. One was Hitesh while another was Paras. They checked our diaries, cupboards, drawers, laptops and computers,” Italia told reporters.
Asked if he had any visual evidence to prove his claims, Italia said CCTVs were not yet installed at the office as it was opened recently in view of the upcoming elections.
“But, CCTVs of a bank located near our office must have captured these policemen. The Ahmedabad police can’t escape by just tweeting their denial at the behest of the ruling BJP. We want the Ahmedabad police to check those CCTVs and the mobile phone location of those two policemen,” the AAP leader said.
Previous developments
Leaders of the AAP’s Gujarat unit said on Twitter that the search on September 11 was carried out soon after Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal arrived in Ahmedabad.
Reacting to the development, Kejriwal said the Gujarat police found nothing at the party office as the leaders and workers of the AAP are “hardcore honest”.
There was no immediate response from the Gujarat Police to the AAP’s claim, the news agency PTI has reported.
“The BJP is extremely rattled by the immense support that the AAP is getting from the people of Gujarat. There is a storm in favour of the AAP in Gujarat,” Kejriwal said in a tweet in Hindi.
“Raids have started in Gujarat too after Delhi. Nothing was found in Delhi, nothing was found in Gujarat too. We are hardcore honest and patriotic people,” he added.
The AAP national convenor hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after his party’s Gujarat unit leader Isudan Gadhvi claimed on Twitter that police raided the party office and carried out searches for two hours, soon after Kejriwal arrived in Ahmedabad.
“Gujarat Police’s raid at the Aam Aadmi Party’s office as soon as Kejriwal arrived in Ahmedabad. Carried out searches for two hours and left. Nothing found. Said they will come again,” Gadhvi said in a tweet in Hindi.
“The BJP is so scared with the growing popularity of the Aam Aadmi Party in Gujarat that now it is misusing power to get our office raided,” the Gujarat unit of the AAP said in a tweet.
“After Delhi, now they have started getting raids conducted in Gujarat too. Be it Delhi or Gujarat, they are not going to find anything,” it added.
(With PTI inputs)
Note: This article was originally published at 9:26 am on September 12, 2022 and was republished at 4:26 pm on the same day with updated information.