AAP's Durgesh Pathak on CBI search: 'They turned each page of books'

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Durgesh Pathak claimed on Thursday that the BJP-led Central government sent a CBI team for searches at his house to scare him. He claimed the team stayed for four hours but found nothing.

Durgesh Pathak claimed the Central Bureau of Investigation officials, who came to his residence with a search warrant, didn't find anything and failed to inform him about the matter at hand.

"The CBI team thoroughly investigated my two-room house for three to four hours. They searched every corner (in the house). If they found a book, they turned each page. They checked everything but didn't find anything. While going back, they took photocopies of the Aadhaar cards of people who used to come for assistance regarding their work when I was an MLA. There were nearly five to six people," Pathak was quoted as saying by the news agency ANI.

He claimed he didn't know why they came to search his house.

"I have no idea why they came, and in connection with what case...they didn't tell me either. They showed me a search warrant, and I invited them in. Since the party has made me co-in-charge in Gujarat, I think they came to scare me because of that. I think like this because AAP emerged as an alternative during the previous assembly elections in Gujarat, where five of our MLAs had won, after which they arrested Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Satyendra Jain, and Sanjay Singh," he added.

Also read: Atishi says BJP scared of AAP, links CBI raids on Durgesh Pathak to Gujarat polls

What's the case about?

The CBI is probing AAP leaders Durgesh Pathak and Kapil Bhardwaj for alleged FCRA violations.

The FIR claimed AAP created a network of volunteers called "AAP Overseas India" in the USA, Canada and Australia to raise foreign funds. The funds, the FIR claims, were transferred directly to AAP leaders, bypassing legal donation channels.

AAP leader Sanjay Singh accused the BJP of vendetta.

"The dirty game of the BJP and the Modi government has started again. Earlier, every effort was also made to stop AAP. Our biggest leader was put in jail; raids were conducted in Punjab and Delhi. Today, again, a similar nefarious attempt has been made by the BJP," he said.

With inputs from ANI