New Delhi (Agency): In a recent development, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has called on the Supreme Court of India to shut down the Enforcement Directorate (ED). This comes after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a case against ED Assistant Director Pawan Khatri. He is charged with allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 5 crore from liquor businessman Amandeep Dhall. The bribe was meant to help Dhall avoid action in a scam related to Delhi’s excise policy.
AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh spoke at a press conference about the ED’s ongoing investigation into the excise policy scam. He claimed that the agency had been inconsistent in its findings. “Sometimes, they say it is a scam of Rs 100 crore, and sometimes they say it is a scam of Rs 1,000 crore,” Singh said. He also pointed out that the ED has “failed to find any money trail in the case.”
Taking his criticism a step further, Singh called the ED an “‘extortion’ department,” claiming that the agency uses its power to extract money rather than conduct legitimate investigations. “In the name of investigation of the alleged excise scam, they are extorting money,” Singh stated. He accused the ED of acting as a “department of hooliganism,” used for political gains, like “breaking MLAs in various parts of the country.”
In addition to calling for the ED’s shutdown, Singh also demanded an investigation into who benefited from the bribe money. “There should be an investigation on who all got a share of this money. They have a license from the government to carry out extortion. The ED should be shut down,” he said.
Following the registration of the FIR against Khatri, the CBI conducted searches at six locations. Although the accused officers were not directly involved in the excise scam probe, materials related to the case were found during the searches.