The Aam Aadmi Party today stoutly defended Satyendar Jain, the Delhi government minister against whom CBI has filed an FIR, rubbishing charges that he amassed assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.
Senior party leaders Ashutosh and Saurabh Bhardwaj lashed out at the central probe agency accusing it of "planting baseless stories" against Jain in the media through unnamed sources.
"The man in question, a senior CBI officer who is behind all this was handpicked by BJP chief Amit Shah. This is part of a larger design to destabilise opposition-led governments across states," Ashutosh claimed in a press conference.
Bhardwaj said Jain has not purchased or sold a single share since he resigned from the directorship of a clutch of companies in 2013, when he decided to enter public life by contesting as an AAP candidate in the assembly polls.
CBI sources today alleged the minister had control over these companies either in the form of being one of the directors and by holding one-third of shares of these companies in his name or in the names of his family members or others.
During the questioning, the minister and his wife could not explain Rs 1.62 crore -- approximately one-third of funds received by the companies during 2015-17, the CBI sources claimed.
"CBI is planting a fictitious amount of Rs 1.62 crore as income for Jain. AAP challenges the CBI to substantiate the charge through some solid evidence. It is a lie, they should prove it. It is not a coincidence that CBI acted right after the Bawana polls," Bhardwaj said.
After registering the FIR, the CBI had yesterday carried out searches at Jain's residence, during which the agency managed to "recover Rs 50,000 cash, 52 grams gold, copies of Income Tax returns, election affidavits, inventory of official furniture", Bhardwaj said.
"All these are in any case available on the public domain. Where is the incriminating evidence that CBI is talking about during informal briefings with the media?" he asked.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)