NEW DELHI: The Delhi Assembly on Tuesday issued notices to former CM Arvind Kejriwal, his former deputy Manish Sisodia, ex-Speaker Ram Niwas Goel and former Deputy Speaker Rakhi Birla over the ‘Phansi Ghar’ row. Issuing notices to the four senior AAP leaders, the Assembly Secretariat sought their comments by September 19.
According to a recent letter issued by the Assembly Secretariat, on August 22, 2022, a ‘Phansi Ghar’ was inaugurated on the Assembly premises at Old Secretariat in the presence of Kejriwal as chief guest, Sisodia, Goel and Birla. Goel, the then Speaker, had presided over the ceremony.
Amid controversy over the previous AAP government’s claim that a section of the Assembly building was once a “Phansi Ghar” (execution chamber), the Assembly, during the monsoon session, called it a gross distortion of history, an insult to national martyrs, and a betrayal of public trust.
It alleged that Rs 1.04 crore of taxpayers’ money was spent on promoting the false narrative, and called for full recovery of the amount, the registration of an FIR against those responsible, and the institution of a probe. The BJP had said that the Kejriwal government misused public funds for political gain.
Assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta had stated that the “Phansi Ghar” was actually a tiffin room and that there was a misconception about it being used to hang freedom fighters during British rule.
CM Rekha Gupta had urged the Speaker to remove the misleading signage referencing the “Phansi Ghar” from the Assembly premises.
On August 7, the House referred the issue to the Committee of Privileges for review. The panel is seeking responses from the four leaders.