AAP says sting tapes 'doctored', seeks raw footage

NEW DELHI: Calling the sting operation a part of bigger conspiracy against their party, Aam Aadmi Party ( AAP) leaders on Friday said, "We really suspect that the sting tape has been modified and doctored."

Addressing a press conference AAP leader, Yogendra Yadav said, "We had sent a letter and email asking Anuranjan Jha for the raw footage of the sting. But he has not responded. We again ask Anuranjan Jha to provide us the raw tape."

"By 3 pm if they don't give us the full tapes, we will consider the sting as a conspiracy. To run doctored sting tapes is illegal and against EC model code of conduct," he added.

On the issue of AAP leader Shazia Ilmi offering to not contest the Delhi election, he said, "We have not accepted her request yet. We have asked her to wait."

Sanjay Singh of AAP alleged that the tapes have been doctored to malign the party's image. "If this sting indeed is a conspiracy, we will take legal action against them," he said.

Embarrassed by a sting operation purportedly showing senior leaders "raising funds through illegal means," AAP said it has formed a committee to probe the matter.

A sting operation, conducted by web portal Media Sarkar, alleged that several leaders of AAP, including party's candidate from R K Puram Assembly Constituency Shazia Ilmi and Kumar Vishwas, who were contacted for their help in recovery of money from individuals and getting land deals done, readily agreed to extend their support in return for donations in cash to AAP.

Imli had offered to withdraw her candidature from the Delhi Assembly elections after the sting operation.

AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal has dismissed the sting operation as a "conspiracy" against his party but said it will not compromise on the issue of corruption.

It said the web portal has refused to provide unedited raw footage to the party.

"We had yesterday asked Media Sarkar to provide the unedited footage of the sting operation, so that we can go through it and decide appropriate action, but they have refused to provide us the raw video," Kejriwal had said.

"Until we go through the raw footage, how can we decide," he had asked.