NEW DELHI: Sharpening the attack on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for showing support to Health Minister Satyendar Jain in his money-laundering case, Union minister Smriti Irani on Wednesday fired off a number of questions, asking the CM why he was defending a “gaddar” (traitor). Kejriwal shot back, saying that by opening up an old case of Jain, the Centre is just trying to divert attention from the “targeted” killings of Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley.
Jain was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on Monday and sent to custody till June 9. On Tuesday, Kejriwal defended Jain, calling him a “true patriot” and stressing that all allegations against him are “fake”. Irani accused Kejriwal of giving Jain a clean chit in the matter. “I want to ask Arvind Kejriwal a few questions. The first one being, can he deny that Jain was involved in laundering Rs 16.39 crore using 56 shell companies with the support of Hawala operates in Kolkata from 2010-11 to 2015-16? Second, had Jain declared that money under the income disclosure scheme 2016 in the name of his close associates — Ankush Jain and Vaibhav Jain — in a self-declaration made by him?,” Irani said during a press conference.
She asked the national AAP convener if it was true that the income tax department had held that the unaccounted income of `16.39 crore was not of his associates, but in fact belonged to Jain. She added that the Delhi High Court had in 2019 agreed with the income tax department’s findings.
However, Kejriwal in a digital press conference said, “The Central government is doing nothing to protect Kashmiri Pandits who are being murdered one by one, in a reminder of what happened in the ’90s. A total of 16 Kashmiri Pandits have been killed this year. They are being targeted, dragged out of their homes and offices, and brutally murdered.”