A team of Delhi Police Crime Branch on Sunday visited Finance Minister Atishi’s residence and served her a notice in connection with allegations that the BJP was attempting to “poach” Aam Aadmi Party MLAs.
The Delhi minister’s staff received the notice, after the Crime Branch team visited the AAP leader’s residence for a second time at 12.55 PM on Sunday, according to PTI citing sources. She has been asked to reply to the notice by February 5.
The Crime Branch team visited her residence on Friday but could not deliver the notice as she was not present.
A day earlier, after a five-hour drama, the Crime Branch officials served a notice on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, asking him to reply in writing within three days to join the probe. The officials has asked Kejriwal to reveal the names of the MLAs who were allegedly approached by the BJP with an offer of Rs 25 crore to switch sides in order to “topple” the government in Delhi.
Sharing a video of some policemen at his residence, Kejriwal posted on X that he sympathised with the crime branch police officers who were sent to serve him notice and said, “It is their duty to stop crime in Delhi but they are being made to indulge in drama. That is why crimes are increasing in Delhi.”
He also said in the post, without naming any party or leader, that the “political bosses” are asking him which AAP MLAs were contacted for switching sides. In an apparent swipe at the BJP, he asked why there was “drama” on the issue when the party knew who was behind toppling governments of other parties across the country in the last few years by poaching MLAs.
Kejriwal hasd alleged in a post on X last week that the BJP was offering Rs 25 crore each to seven AAP MLAs to defect to the BJP, while Atishi made the same allegations in a press conference and dubbed it as “Operation Lotus 2.0”.
Atishi also said that the same attempts were made last year, but however, it had it yield any results.
Following their allegations, a delegation of the Delhi BJP led by its chief Virender Sachdeva met Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora on January 30, seeking investigation into the matter.
On Friday, a team of Delhi Police officials had reached the Chief Minister’s residence to serve notice, but failed. The officials led by an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP)-level officer returned on Saturday with the notice.
Outside the premises, AAP leader Jasmine Shah was seen trying to seek an explanation from a Crime Branch official on the legal provision under which he was insisting on handing over the notice personally to Kejriwal and not to his staff. In the video, he also took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah to focus on issues of unemployment and inflation.