Delhi LG vs AAP: VK Saxena sends legal notice over Rs 1,400 cr scam allegations

New Delhi: Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena sent a legal notice to AAP leaders on Monday over their "false and derogatory" charges against him for his alleged involvement in a Rs 1,400 crore "scam" during his tenure as the KVIC chairman. The notice served on Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders Atishi, Durgesh Pathak, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Sanjay Singh and Jasmine Shah, among others, asks them to issue a press release "directing all members of the party and all persons associated with it, whether directly or indirectly, to cease and desist from spreading and circulating false, defamatory, malicious and unsubstantiated statements".

The legal notice also asks the AAP leaders to comply with the requisitions within 48 hours of its receipt.

The AAP is up in arms against the LG after Pathak alleged in the Assembly last week that as the chairman of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), Saxena had pressured his employees to exchange demonetised currency notes worth Rs 1,400 crore in 2016.

Don’t pressurise officers: Manish Sisodia to PM Modi

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Monday claimed that a CBI officer died by suicide after he was pressured to frame him in the excise policy case. The Central Bureau of Investigation, however, refuted the charge. It said the officer, Jitendra Kumar, was in "no way connected" with the probe into the Delhi excise policy case.

"I want to tell Prime Minister Narendra Modi that if you want to frame me in a false case, go ahead. You had raids conducted against me. You filed a false case against me. If you want to arrest me, tell me where you want me to come and I will be there. But don't pressure officers so much that they commit suicide," Sisodia said.

He alleged that the prime minister is always thinking about how he can use the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate to destabilise governments in non-BJP states or poach MLAs of opposition parties.