Centre trying to 'silence' Sanjay Singh: AAP on arrest of Rajya Sabha MP
New Delhi (PTI): The AAP on Thursday accused the Centre of trying to silence its MP Sanjay Singh by arresting him, and challenged the BJP-led Union government to make public any evidence they have against him.
Singh was arrested on Wednesday by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with its money laundering probe linked to the 2021-22 Delhi Excise policy case.
Addressing a press conference here, senior AAP leader Atishi claimed that over 500 officers of the ED and CBI conducted raids at various places linked to the AAP leaders in the last 15 months but "haven't found a single evidence" against them.
"They raided Manish Sisodia's residence, offices and several other places but they couldn't find evidence of corruption of even a single penny. And now, Sanjay Singh has been targeted," she said.
"The ED officers raided every inch of Sanjay Singh's residence but couldn't find anything. They arrested him because he constantly raised issues of Centre's corruption," she added.
Atishi further said that if there is any evidence against their leader, the Centre "should make it public".
"I want to challenge the BJP that if they found any evidence against Sanjay Singh, they should make it public or they should quit politics. They can send their officers anywhere where Sanjay Singh visited and I can vouch that they will not find anything against him," she claimed.
She further charged that the Centre is "trying to silence" Sanjay Singh by arresting him.
"We all know that whenever someone raises their voice against the government, there will be attempts to silence them. Since they couldn't silence him, they arrested him. The BJP should know that AAP is not going to get scared of their arrest threats," she said.
The arrest of the 51-year-old Singh, who became the second high profile leader of the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) to be nabbed in the case relating to the now scrapped Excise policy after former Deputy Chief Minister Sisodia, has sparked a political slugfest between the Arvind Kejriwal-led party and the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP).
Delhi minister Satyendar Jain was arrested by the ED on May 30, 2022 in a separate money laundering case.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
