AAP slams BJP over 'false cases' after court accepts CBI's closure report against Satyendar Jain

New Delhi: The AAP on Sunday slammed the BJP for allegedly framing its leaders in false cases and questioned who would compensate the families for the emotional distress caused by the serious corruption allegations.

In a major relief for AAP leader Satyendar Jain, a special court on Monday accepted the CBI's closure report filed in a 2018 case against the former Delhi PWD minister and others related to alleged corruption in hiring a creative team for the department, noting that the "investigation found no criminal activity or wrongful loss to the government."

Speaking to PTI Videos in Chandigarh, Jain said that when raids were carried out at his residence in 2019, the CBI did not find anything.

"This case was registered against me on May 29, 2019. My house was raided on May 30. It was national news at the time; every media channel was covering it. Everything was turned upside down. Books were searched. Even my children's bags were searched, but nothing was found," he recalled.

Jain said the justice was delayed.

"What my family had to face was not right. I am the son of a teacher. Arvind Kejriwal had told me that if I joined AAP, we might be sent to jail. I thought it was a joke, but later I understood politics. There was no case against me before I entered politics. We have become an example for the middle class that if you dare to join politics, this is what will happen to you," he said.

In a post on X in Hindi, former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal asserted that all cases filed against his party leaders are "false".

"With time, the truth will come out in all these cases. False cases were filed against us, and we were sent to jail. Shouldn't those who filed these false cases, and those leaders who ordered these false cases, be sent to jail? We were smeared with mud day and night, our families had to endure so much pain what about compensating for all that?" the AAP supremo said on X.

While accepting the CBI's closure report, Special Judge Dig Vinay Singh said the investigating agency has not found any incriminating evidence over such a long period, and further proceedings would serve no useful purpose.

"Whenever they wanted, they filed fake cases; whenever they wanted, they sent us to jail; and whenever they felt like it, they filed a 'closure report.' Is this justice?" Kejriwal questioned.

Senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia also posted on X, "Three things cannot remain hidden for long: the sun, the moon, and the truth. Gautam Buddha. No evidence found against Satyendar Jain: CBI.

"The BJP put in all its might, but victory always belongs to the truth. Satyameva Jayate.

The agency had registered the case on May 28, 2018, on a reference from the office of the Lieutenant Governor of the NCT of Delhi to investigate the allegations of irregularities in the award of a tender to a private company for hiring a creative team for PWD works. Four years later, the CBI filed a closure report in the matter, underlining that there was "no evidence of pecuniary advantage, conspiracy, or corruption".

AAP's Delhi state convener Saurabh Bharadwaj said the "conspiracy" of the BJP had been exposed.

"The conspiracy of BJP exposed. False cases by CBI revealed. The despicable thinking of BJP's central government and their LG - file false cases against Kejriwal's government ministers and MLAs to hinder their work, defame them in the name of corruption. Now the truth is coming to light, he said in a post on X in Hindi.

Echoing similar views, former Delhi minister Atishi said in a press conference, "Since the AAP government was formed in Delhi, the BJP has filed false cases against our leaders. In 10 years, more than 200 cases have been filed against our leaders. When these cases go to court, it comes to light that AAP leaders have done nothing wrong."

Atishi said the CBI court has accepted that there was not a single penny of corruption in Jain's case and has declared him innocent.