Delhi Assembly elections 2025: Delhi Police late on Wednesday registered a case after a vehicle labeled 'Punjab government' was found with carrying cash, liquor, and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) pamphlets. As per the official, the vehicle, which had a Punjab number plate, was stopped by the Flying Squad team in the New Delhi district near Punjab Bhavan on Copernicus Marg.
Notably, the Flying Squad attends to all Model Code of Conduct violations and all complaints related to liquor, arms and cash used for elections.
What did Delhi Police find inside car?
On Wednesday night, Tilak Marg police station received information of a suspicious vehicle with a 'PB' number registration, and 'Punjab sarkar' written on it parked near Punjab Bhavan. Upon inspection, the vehicle had various pamphlets of the Aam Aadmi Party, multiple liquor bottles and cash worth lakhs, according to Delhi police.
Delhi Police said officials have initiated legal proceedings in the matter, and a case is being registered at Tilak Marg police station. "Upon searching (the car), we discovered cash, multiple liquor bottles, and Aam Aadmi Party pamphlets inside the vehicle," Delhi Police said in a statement.
Car doesn't belong to Punjab govt
In a statement, the Punjab government said that the state's transport department received information about a vehicle bearing the registration number 'PB35AE1342' being intercepted in Delhi. The vehicle was reportedly carrying illegal liquor and unaccounted cash.
The statement said as per official record, it has been found that the vehicle was registered in the name of a man posted in the Army Dental College in Pathankot three years back, and that he was a permanent resident of Khadki in Maharashtra.
The vehicle with registration number 'PB35AE1342' is a 'Ford Eco Sport' model of 2018 but the four-wheeler intercepted by Delhi Police is a 'Hyundai Creta', said the statement.
This confirms that the vehicle number plate is forged and fake, it said.
The High-Security Registration Plate is mandatory for all vehicles but the registration plate of the seized vehicle is an ordinary one, without the features of HSRP, it said.
"We have searched our records and found that no such vehicle is owned or hired by the government of Punjab. The intercepted vehicle does not belong to the government of Punjab at all," it said.
AAP calls it 'planted stunt'
Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) dismissed the allegations as "totally fake and laughable." In a statement, the party claimed that the vehicle's registration number actually belongs to a Hyundai Creta, which is different from the car seized by the police.
AAP further stated that there is no entry record of the vehicle at Punjab Bhawan. The party alleged that the vehicle was "conveniently parked with no driver in sight," and that the owner's details trace back to someone from Pathankot, currently in Punjabi Bagh, but originally from Pune.
Calling it a "planted stunt" that was "poorly executed and utterly bogus," AAP accused its political rivals of fabricating the controversy.
BJP reacts
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva, in a statement, expressed shock over the incident. He said Rs 10 lakh cash, liquor and AAP election material was recovered from a Punjab government car in Delhi.
"Till now, we thought Arvind Kejriwal institutionalised corruption in Delhi government, polluted Yamuna and Delhi's air but today we understand that he has polluted Delhi's political system too," Sachdeva said.
(With agencies input)
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