After a Delhi court on Monday accepted the Enforcement Directorate’s closure report in a money laundering case linked to the Commonwealth Games (CWG), the Congress party launched an attack on the BJP and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, accusing them of making false allegations to tarnish the party’s image. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Kejriwal apologise to the Congress and to the people of India for the baseless accusations. He alleged that prior to 2014, Kejriwal and the BJP had collaborated to fabricate scandals like the 2G and CWG scams to malign the Congress.

Ramesh said that two very honest and committed leaders – Dr. Manmohan Singh and Mrs. Sheila Dixit – were wrongly targeted. He pointed out that the courts had already exposed the truth behind the 2G case, and now, with the court accepting the ED’s closure report in the CWG case, it is clear that both allegations were unfounded. “Modi and Kejriwal must apologise for misleading the country. Satyamev Jayate!” Ramesh wrote on X. Meanwhile, Congress leader Pawan Khera criticised the BJP, calling the 2G and CWG accusations tools of political vendetta aimed at diverting attention from the BJP’s own failures. He said the court’s decision was a moral and political indictment of the BJP’s politics of falsehood.

“The ED has filed a closure report on the so-called CWG scam. For years, the BJP and its ecosystem used lies to discredit Congress, targeting 2G, CWG, Robert Vadra, and coal. The truth now stands tall while their web of lies has collapsed,” Khera said on X. He added that the collapse of these cases was not just a legal victory but a strong blow against the BJP’s culture of creating false narratives.

“Truth doesn’t need to scream from TV studios; it reveals itself quietly and powerfully. Will the Prime Minister and Kejriwal now apologise?” he asked. The CWG case, involving alleged corruption during the 2010 games, came to a conclusion as the Delhi court approved the ED’s closure report. Initially, attention had focused on accusations against Suresh Kalmadi, then Organizing Committee chairman, and secretary-general Lalit Bhanot, regarding financial irregularities in awarding major contracts. These contracts reportedly caused financial loss to the committee and unfair profits to certain companies.

Special Judge Sanjeev Aggarwal, while accepting the ED’s closure report, stated that no evidence of money laundering under Section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) was found, and no scheduled offence under Section 2(1)(y) of the PMLA was established. The court noted that despite extensive investigations, the ED could not substantiate any charges. Thus, there was no ground to continue the case, and the closure report was accepted.

Earlier, in 2016, a special court had also accepted the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) closure report in a related corruption case, finding no evidence against officials of the Central Public Works Department (CPWD), Delhi Development Authority (DDA), and others. The CWG corruption controversy, which once triggered a major political storm in India, had led to multiple investigations. The Special Judge emphasized that the ED’s investigation was based on the CBI’s earlier findings, which had alleged wrongful awarding of contracts related to Games Workforce Services (GWS) and Games Planning, Project and Risk Management Services (GPPRMS), resulting in a loss of about ₹30 crore. However, the CBI had concluded in 2014 that no incriminating evidence was found, and now with both agencies unable to prove wrongdoing, the long-running saga of the CWG corruption case has come to an end.

Disclaimer: This image is taken from Business Standard.