AAP threatens defamation case against BJP leaders

New Delhi: Hours after the BJP alleged that files were stolen from Special Secretary, Vigilance, YVVJ Rajasekhar’s office at the secretariat building, the Delhi government on Friday said it will file a defamation case against the leaders of the saffron party and officers for “lying blatantly”.

At a joint press conference, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Manoj Tiwari and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri alleged that files were stolen from Rajasekhar’s office and showed the CCTV footage purportedly of the theft.

The BJP leaders said a complaint will be submitted to the police commissioner for the registration of an FIR in the matter and demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

They said the party will go to court if there is a delay in the registration of the FIR as the vigilance officer was handling the investigation into various corruption cases against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.

“It has come to my notice through media reports that some Delhi BJP leaders have made grave allegations against ministers of the Delhi government accessing sensitive files in the custody of the vigilance department in the early morning of May 16,” Vigilance Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said in a statement.

This is a “blatant lie”, he said, adding that the turn of events in the intervening night of May 15 and 16 is already a matter of official records of the government, based on a letter submitted by the secretary (vigilance) to the chief secretary on May 17.

In a report to his superiors, Rajasekhar alleged a break-in at his office in the intervening night of May 15-16, suspecting that “sensitive files” might have been “tampered” with.

The officer is handling the vigilance probe into the alleged excise policy scam and irregularities in the renovation of the chief minister’s official residence. Bharadwaj said the official records “completely expose” the “falsehoods” of BJP leaders and some officers.