Kejriwal alleges Rs 1,400 crore given to media houses to defame AAP

Zee Media Bureau/Himanshu Kapoor

New Delhi: As the Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday claimed that the CD of the sting operation was doctored and defended its leader who were targeted, the party convener Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday claimed that Rs 1400 crores were distributed to a few media houses to defame AAP ahead of the December 4 Delhi Assembly polls. Kejriwal tweeted, “I am told Rs 1400 crores have been distributed to a few media houses. Who r these media houses? Any guesses? (sic)” He said the CD episode has clearly shown who are the blacksheep within media, further adding that few media houses have sold their souls. A controversial sting operation by a media portal mediasarkar.com purportedly showed some AAP members allegedly accepting donations without proper verification. After reviewing the 14-hour long raw footage of the sting operation obtained from Election Commission today, the AAP cleared its members of allegations leveled against them saying that no wrongdoing appeared on the tape. A team led by AAP leader Yogendra Yadav that examined the footage said that the CD contained a "lot of problems". Yadav said that AAP party was proud of its member who have come clean in the sting operation. Kejriwal said the party will send criminal defamation notices to media houses and to Anuranjan Jha, the CEO of Media Sarkar for defaming the party. The sting video footage showed Shazia Ilmi, AAP candidate from south Delhi`s RK Puram seat and party leader Kumar Bishwas allegedly agreeing to help a reported conducting the operation without documents when offered donations in cash. The sting operations were also done on AAP candidates from Kondli (Manoj Kumar), Sangam Vihar (Dinesh Mohaniya), Okhla (Irfan Ullah Khan), Rohtas Nagar (Mukesh Hooda), Deoli (Prakash) and Palam (Bhawna Gaur).