Kejriwal siphoned off Rs 80 lakh donations, alleges Agnivesh

NEW DELHI: Activist Swami Agnivesh today alleged that Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal has siphoned off over Rs 80 lakh donated by people for Anna Hazare's agitation by diverting it to a trust run by him.

"All the donations which were made for the India Against Corruption (IAC) were diverted to Public Cause Research Foundation run by Kejriwal," he said, alleging that Kejriwal was delaying the opening of a bank account in the name of IAC.

Kejriwal could not be reached for comments and there was no reply to a text message sent to him.

Agnivesh was ousted from Team Anna following the surfacing of a video clip during the August agitation of Hazare in which he was purportedly shown asking a person, suspected by Team Anna to a Union minister, to deal strongly with the crusader.

He said Hazare himself had asked Kejriwal to put on website the details of donations received by them in the core committee meeting. Hazare had announced that he had asked his associates to conduct a mini-audit and put the statement on website.

"Lakhs and lakhs of rupees have come. Where have they gone," Agnivesh asked.

On being questioned how he arrived at this figure of over Rs 80 lakh, he said one of the organisers had announced in Ramlila Maidan that they had already received Rs 50 lakh and urged no more donations. "Even after this, they received donations," he alleged.