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The L-G issued the notice through his lawyer, advocate Bani Dikshit, to the respondents — MLAs Atishi, Durgesh Pathak, Saurabh Bharadwaj; MP Sanjay Singh and DDC Vice-Chairperson Jasmine Shah. It stated that the AAP leaders made “false, malicious and motivated allegations” to “harm the dignity, reputation and honour” of the L-G that was “built brick by brick by his relentless hard work over the years”.
The AAP has accused the L-G of being involved in a “scam” where two cashiers had allegedly exchanged demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 bank notes at Khadi Gramodyog Bhavan in 2016. It also alleged that he had given the contract to design the Khadi Lounge in Mumbai to his daughter without a tender.
The notice stated that this was “undoubtedly a carefully planned move by AAP with the objective of digressing the attention of the people in view of the recent law enforcement actions taken against its senior leader(s)”.
The L-G’s lawyer stated that the objective of the vilification campaign was to browbeat his client and “to discourage him from performing his Constitutional obligations in his capacity as the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi”.
“It is a matter of great concern and consternation that AAP has not only peddled falsities and lies against my client, but has stooped to the level of launching a series of scathing and belligerent personal attacks against my client’s family members as well, referring to the family members, and particularly the daughter, in a derogatory and demeaning manner, leaving not an iota of doubt that the entire campaign is vitriolic and motivated by oblique intentions to harass and abuse my client,” the notice read.
The notice alleged that the AAP leaders also used words like ‘chor’ and ‘dalal’ for the L-G while claiming that he was involved in corruption to the tune of Rs 1,400 crore during demonetisation while holding the post of Chairman of Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC).
The notice stated that the AAP leaders made the allegations based on statements of two accused in a case lodged by the CBI in this regard, Sanjeev Malik and Pradeep Kumar Yadav, both cashiers at KVIC, who alleged that they “were only acting under pressure from their superiors and under instructions of Chairman Sahab”.
The notice stated that it was unclear as to where these statements were recorded, and how the AAP obtained access to the statements. It mentioned that the L-G’s name is not mentioned in the FIR.
“AAP has failed to appreciate that it is for the investigative authorities to decipher the truth, and it is not AAP’s mantle to don, especially when these actions are motivated by political greed and agenda. On the other hand, notably, these investigations were initiated under the instructions and Chairmanship of my client himself in the first instance,” the notice read.
The notice also stated that the sum of Rs 1,400 crore as alleged by the AAP leaders was “based on some obtuse mathematical formula that only AAP is privy to”.
It stated that from the financial year 2016-17, Khadi sales across the country were worth Rs 2,146 crore. There were seven departmental store outlets (DSOs) of KVIC, sales from which were Rs 173.58 crore during FY 2016-17, while the remaining was the sale done through franchisees and/or through independent Khadi institution stores. “Out of the retail sale of Rs 173.58 crore from these seven DSOs only, Rs 99.35 crore was through retail sales and the remaining was through wholesale and government supplies,” the notice read.
The notice stated that during demonetisation, on a pro-rata basis, retail sales were worth approximately only about Rs 14.43 crore. “Hence, by any stretch of the imagination, whatsoever, the figure of Rs 1,400 crore is not only incompatible with real and unquestionable figures duly recorded in the books of accounts but also an incomprehensible mathematical impossibility,” the notice stated.
It asked the respondents to take down all defamatory content published on social media websites. Seeking a suspension of hashtags calling the L-G a thief and asking for his arrest, it has called for an unconditional apology from the respondents in the media and asked to cease any further defamatory allegations.
On the notice, sources from AAP said: “If he has done no wrong, why is he so scared of CBI raid and investigation? Why does he not offer himself for independent enquiry? He should stop threatening people. He has done so much corruption in KVIC that now he is trying to stop its exposure by threatening people. But he cannot silence our voice. We will keep raising our voice against corruption. We have zero tolerance against corruption.”
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