AAP member accused of inflating her poll expenses

Jalandhar: AAP leader Yamini Gomar - who has been inducted into its national executive of the party - has been accused of 'overstating' her poll expenditure during the 2014 general elections, and allegedly 'overcharging' Rs6.84 lakh from party funds donated by people.
The accusation against Gomar, who contested from the Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha constituency, has been picked up by the Shiromani Akali Dal.Gomar rubbished the allegations, stating that she had claimed only genuine election expenses.
Providing copies of documents pertaining to election expenditure, procured from the election tehsildar of Hoshiarpur, Doaba zone, president of Youth Akali Dal (YAD) Sarabjot Singh Sabi said here on Thursday that it exposed the claims of transparency, honesty, and propriety of the AAP leadership, as they inducted Gomar in the national executive, despite her facing such serious charges.
AAP activist Iqbal Singh had initially sent a complaint to Hoshiarpur deputy commissioner Anindita Mitra, and then SSP Ranjit Singh on March 21 last year, alleging that 'fake bills' were submitted by Gomar in her election expenditure. He then sent a representation to Punjab DGP Suresh Arora on December 19 last year that Sangrur-based Roxy Printing Press be involved in the inquiry, as Gomar had claimed that the payment was made to it.
Following the DGP's orders, Sangrur police investigated the case and took the statement of Roxy Printing Press owner Badri Jindal - who verified that the printed bills of his firm worth Rs1.28 lakh (dated April 20, 2014) and Rs 65,000 (dated April 19, 2014) were issued by them. He said the handwritten memos (dated April 26, 2014) signed and submitted by Gomar for Rs4.36 lakh and Rs2.48 lakh had nothing to with his firm.
In the latest letter on 20 April, the Hoshiarpur SSP wrote to his counterpart in Sangrur that all payments were made at Sangrur, and the report about action taken by the district police should be sent directly to the director, bureau of investigation at Chandigarh. The inter-office correspondence of the police revealed that Sangrur and Hoshiarpur police had been passing the buck to each other. Iqbal said he first made the complaints of overcharging at the party forum, and even submitted these details to AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal. He alleged that after the party did nothing, he moved a complaint to the police in March 2015.
Gomar said whatever details of expenditure were submitted by her were genuine.