Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has come out strongly in support of Yogendra Yadav
A day after raids on hospitals run by Yogendra Yadav's relatives, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has come out strongly in support of his estranged former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) colleague and condemned what he calls "victimisation" by the government.
"We strongly condemn victimisation of Yogendra Yadav's family by the Modi government through the use of agencies like IT (Income Tax Department). Modi government should stop such vendetta politics," Mr Kejriwal tweeted this morning.
On Wednesday, Yogendra Yadav tweeted that a hospital run by his sisters in Haryana's Rewari had been raided by Income Tax officials and accused the government of targeting him over his protest march in support of farmers.
Mr Yadav said more than 100 officials from Delhi raided the hospital and "detained" all the doctors, including his sisters, brother-in-law and nephew, in their chambers.
"Hospital sealed, including ICU for new-born babies. A clear attempt to intimidate. Modiji you can''t silence me," said the Swaraj Abhiyan leader.
The tax department's searches were triggered by a Rs. 3.25 lakh cash payment for jewellery bought from fugitive billionaire Nirav Modi's firm, an income tax department official said hours after Mr Yadav's tweets.
Tax department officials later said they had recovered 22 lakh cash during the searches.
They said Mr Yadav's nephew Gautam Yadav had bought jewellery from the diamantaire's firm for Rs. 6 lakh and paid Rs. 3.25 lakh in cash. Tax officials had learnt of the cash transaction from the dossier of information about the group owned by Nirav Modi, the celebrity designer wanted in a $ 2 billion Punjab National Bank fraud case.
Mr Yadav told news agency PTI that "the question is whether this money is unaccounted for? I do not know about the accounts of the hospitals".