AAP comes out in support of OROP activist retired IAF Wing Commander CK Sharma arrested for alleged financial irregularities

New Delhi: AAP on Saturday came out in support of retired IAF Wing Commander C K Sharma, who was arrested on the charge of financial bungling, saying on one hand the Narendra Modi government hails the armed forces and on the other it watches a veteran being "treated like a goon".

"This is a pseudo-nationalist government. On one hand Prime Minister Narendra Modi hails the grit and valour of armymen guarding our country in extreme cold in Siachen and on the other hand a 75-year-old IAF veteran is treated like a goon by the police in a BJP-ruled state," senior AAP leader Ashutosh alleged.

"I smell a political conspiracy. We condemn this action and appeal to the Prime Minister, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and the Haryana government to take cognisance of this matter and address it," he said.

At a press conference at AAP headquarters here, Ashutosh and another party leader Sanjay Singh also alleged that Sharma's family was "misbehaved" with by the police when they went to arrest him in Gurgaon, a charge denied by it.

Sharma was arrested in Gurgaon on March 10 on the charge of financial bungling in the accounts of a society for jawans and their widows which was spearheading the agitation for 'One-Rank-One-Pension'.

Sharma has been booked under sections 420 (cheating), 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of IPC.

An FIR was registered against Sharma on the directions of the magistrate following a complaint by Lt Gen (Retd) Raj Kadiyan, the chairman of Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement (IESM), who had alleged the officer siphoned off Rs 14 lakh from the accounts of the organisation. Sharma held the post of treasurer.

Police had registered a case against three persons on February 8 after Kadiyan in a complaint alleged that "they had taken a lot of cash from the society funds between January and July 2013".

The three -- Sharma, Maj Gen (Retd) Satbir Singh and Group Capt (Retd) V K Gandhi -- had recently moved a local court for anticipatory bail but their plea was rejected.

Ashutosh claimed that after the complaint was lodged "an application was made by the trio in 2013 and a probe was done. Now, suddenly they are raking the matter up again. We condemn the way a veteran has been treated, as if he was a goon."

The two AAP leaders attacked the Modi government over the Vijay Mallya issue, saying, "He defaults Rs 9000 crore and is allowed to escape. He goes to Parliament and then flies to London. How can it happen without the connivance of the government?"

AAP also alleged that a state minister in NDA cabinet "had defaulted a few thousand crores through his three companies."

"So, we demand a clarification from the Centre on this," Ashutosh said.