AAP, Congress: United by hawala?

In a sensational development, Republic TV’s Prema Sridevi has accessed exclusive documents from the Income Tax department, which blow the cover off the Aam Aadmi Party and the Indian National Congress with regard to their dubious hawala transactions. The papers accessed by Republic TV show that the two political parties had used the same hawala entry operator to transact money worth several lakhs of rupees. 

Republic TV has also accessed the notice that was sent by the I-T department to the Indian National Congress on May 24, 2017, regarding the questionable transactions. Sources in the I-T department have confirmed to Republic TV that the Congress party has sought more time to respond to the notice. 

The man who is at the centre of the controversy, Mukesh Kumar, is the same hawala entry operator who had funded Arvind Kejriwal in the past. He is now in the dock over his questionable transactions with the Congress Party. Kumar, during the course of his interrogation by the I-T department, not only admitted to being a hawala operator but also listed the various transactions he had made with political parties and other entities.

I-T sleuths have confirmed to Republic TV that they are also investigating a second hawala operator, Deepak Agarwal, who was working very closely with Mukesh Kumar to provide accommodation entries to various beneficiaries including the AAP and the Congress, as well as over 350 other entities. Interestingly, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal had even tweeted about receiving Rs. 2 crore from Mukesh Kumar.

The company Goldmine Buildcon Pvt Ltd is also being investigated by I-T officials as it was used by Mukesh Kumar to transact with political parties. 

While neither the Congress nor the AAP has come clean on the deals, the Election Commission has taken cognisance of Republic TV’s expose and will be looking into the matter.