Almost three years after Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Santosh Koli died in a road accident in Ghaziabad, the Bharatiya Janata Party yesterday demanded that the Uttar Pradesh government order a Central Bureau of Investigation enquiry into the case. “We demand a CBI enquiry into the death of Santosh Koli in a road accident from the Uttar Pradesh government,” Delhi unit BJP chief Satish Upadhyay told reporters here.
“We will also write to UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav over the issue and also meet him, if required,” he added.
Koli, once a close associate of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, suffered critical injuries in an accident in Ghaziabad on June 30, 2013 when a speeding car rammed a motorcycle on which she was riding pillion. She succumbed to injuries on August 7, 2013, in a private hospital in Gurgaon.
Accusing Kejriwal of being involved in the hit-and-run incident, Upadhyay said: “There is a conspiracy in the death of Koli, as she was the only person who had all the records of the party.”
“At the time of Koli’s accident, Kejriwal’s personal secretary Kuldeep Panwar was with her. Why didn’t he get injured in the accident,” Upadhyay asked.
“Even the motorcycle on which they were travelling was burnt,” he added. “Why was she immediately shifted to a hospital in Gurgaon, while there were a number of good hospitals in Ghaziabad and Delhi,” the BJP leader said.
“Why had Kejriwal kept the medical and autopsy report of Koli with him and not handed it over to her family,” Upadhyay wondered.
When asked why the BJP is raising the issue after such a long gap, Upadhyay said: “During Delhi assembly elections we had demanded the same. Even her parents met us over this issue.”
The BJP leader also said that the AAP was known for doing politics on the dead. Citing references, the BJP pointed out the cases of Koli and Rajasthan farmer Gajendra Chauhan, who died during an AAP rally in the national capital last year. Upadhyay also sought the arrest of Kejriwal over water tanker scam. “Earlier, I had demanded his (Kejriwal’s) resignation and now I demand that the Delhi Police arrest him,” Upadhyay told reporters here.
He alleged that Kejriwal “suppressed” for 11 months the report of a fact-finding team that probed the alleged irregularities in hiring 385 stainless steel water tankers by the Delhi Jal Board in 2012 during the tenure of the Congress government headed by Sheila Dikshit.
He claimed the AAP leader was busy making false allegations on social media platforms.
“Why were payments given to the private company for 17 months instead of cancelling it? Why was Keshav Chandra, who was earlier private secretary to Dikshit, made the Jal Board chief executive officer,” the BJP leader asked.
During the Congress tenure in the national capital, Kejriwal had accused the city government of being involved in the water tanker scam.