New Delhi, 30 March

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday alleged connection between one of the witnesses in the alleged excise policy scam and the BJP, and challenged the enforcement directorate (ED) to conduct a probe into it.

Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, whose son Raghava Magunta Reddy was arrested by the ED in connection with the excise policy case, has been fielded by the BJP's ally TDP in the Lok Sabha polls, senior AAP leaders and Delhi Ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged in a press conference. "I challenge the ED if it is an independent agency to bring in record this connection and probe it," Atishi said and alleged that the BJP has connections with the so-called 'South Lobby' of liquor traders.

No immediate reaction was available from the BJP on AAP's allegation.

Kejriwal was arrested on the basis of four statements including by the Maguntas, the AAP leaders claimed. The Delhi chief minister was arrested on 21 March in connection with the excise policy-linked money laundering case being probed by the ED. "Earlier, another witness against Kejriwal in the excise policy case, Sarath Reddy, had paid Rs 55 crore to the BJP through electoral bonds which proves the party has connection with the 'South Lobby'," Atishi further alleged.

She charged that the ED had been "torturing" the witnesses till it got statements from them against Kejriwal. Referring to the questioning of Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot by the ED in the excise policy case, she said, "They may summon me, Bharadwaj and other AAP leaders and arrest us but we are not scared of going to jail."

She said Kejriwal's arrest was an "assault on democracy" in the country and the whole of Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc opposed it.