The Enforcement Directorate (ED) issued a fresh summons to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday in connection with the Delhi excise policy case.
This is the fifth summons issued to the Aam Aadmi Party chief in the liquor case by the central agency. The probe agency has asked the Delhi CM to appear before the agency for questioning on Friday, February 2. “The legal team is studying the summons; we will do whatever is appropriate,” said Aam Adami Party.
CM previously declined to appear before the central agency on four earlier summons dated November 2, December 21, January 3, and January 18.
Kejriwal had earlier said that “the liquor scam case that was being talked about for the last two years was “fake,” and the probe agencies have so far failed to present any evidence of corruption.”
Priyanka Kakkar, National Spokesperson of the AAP, said, “We have just received information about the fifth summons. Our legal team is studying it; we will do whatever is appropriate within the ambit of the law.”
On the other hand, Delhi BJP Chief Virendra Sachdeva said that the way the Delhi Chief Minister is evading ED summons, it’s clear that he must be thinking of new ideas to evade summons. He added that Kejriwal should not run away from the legal process, but like some of his other I.N.D.I.A alliance colleagues; he should also appear before the ED and cooperate in the investigation.
“Arvind Kejriwal knows that it has become clear from the investigation conducted by the CBI and ED that he is the main conspirator behind the liquor scam, and the money from the scam has reached him.
Therefore, now Kejriwal is trying to avoid investigation as much as possible,” Delhi BJP Chief said.
ED claimed that the excise policy was Kejriwal’s “brainchild.” The central probe agency has so far filed six charge sheets in this probe against 31 individuals and entities, including former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh, who are currently lodged in Tihar jail.
The liquor policy was subsequently scrapped, and Delhi Lt Governor VK Saxena recommended a CBI probe, following which the ED registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
