New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is considering to take legal action against Delhi Public Works Department Minister Atishi following allegations that the central agency deleted audio clips during an investigation into money laundering, sources said.
The ED officials termed the allegations of deleting audio clips completely false and malicious.
"AAP leader dated February 6, has raised false, baseless and malicious allegations against the Directorate of Enforcement. Allegations levelled against ED regarding the deletion of CCTV footage of certain accused persons are completely false and malicious," officials said.
"All statements of the accused persons were recorded under CCTV surveillance and the same were supplied to the accused persons as sought by them and the Ld Trial Court was also provided the same. The CCTV footage was however recorded in the video-only format as the then available CCTV system did not have the facility to record audio."
Officials pointed that no audio recording was deleted by the agency sleuths and the allegations were just to discredit the evidence against their misdeeds.
"No audio recording has ever been deleted by ED officials. The audio facility was just not available in the earlier CCTV system of ED. ED records hundreds of statements in quasi-judicial proceedings in a professional manner. Baseless allegations are trumped up daily by APP leaders just to discredit the evidence against their misdeeds," officials said.
The central probe agency said that the CCTV system at the ED office was modernised with the latest facilities and upgraded storage facility in October 2023 enabling audio recording of the interrogations. "Since then, interrogation of all the accused persons has been done with audio-video recordings including that of Sanjay Singh."
In view of these false, baseless, malicious allegations by Atishi, AAP Minister, sources indicated, the Directorate of Enforcement may take serious legal action.
Earlier, speaking at a news conference called specifically to 'expose' the ED Atishi said, "For the last 2 years, AAP leaders have been threatened. In the name of this so-called liquor scam, someone's house is raided, gets summoned, and is arrested...Even after hundreds of raids in two years, ED has not been able to recover even a single rupee."
The Delhi minister also questioned the conduct of the agency during the probe into the alleged liquor scam.
"Cross questioning was done with government witness. The statement given and statement in court were different. When footage was given, audio footage was deleted" Atishi claimed.
—ANI