The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued a fourth summons to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday in connection with the alleged Delhi excise policy case. He is required to appear before the central probe agency on January 18, according to sources.
This summons follows Kejriwal’s refusal to testify before the ED for the third time on January 3. The ED had previously issued a third summons on December 22 last year, related to the alleged Delhi liquor scam case, instructing him to appear before the agency on January 3.
Earlier, the ED had summoned the Delhi CM on December 18 in connection with an excise policy case, setting the appearance date on December 21. Kejriwal had initially been called by the central agency on November 2, but he did not depose, claiming that the notice was “vague, motivated, and unsustainable in law.”
After skipping the third summons, Kejriwal expressed his willingness to cooperate with the investigation in his reply to the ED but declined to appear on the summoned date, deeming the notice “illegal.” He questioned the agency for not responding to his previous replies when the summons was initially issued, where he had raised queries regarding the nature of the agency’s investigation.
In his written response to the ED, Kejriwal stated, “As a premier investigating agency, the non-disclosure and non-response approach adopted by you cannot sustain the test of law, equity, or justice. Your obstinacy is tantamount to assuming the role of judge, jury, and executioner at the same time, which is not acceptable in our country governed by the rule of law.”
The Delhi Chief Minister had also been summoned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in April of the same year in connection with the case. However, Kejriwal was not named as an accused in the first information report (FIR) filed by the CBI on August 17 the previous year.
In February 2023, the Deputy of Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, was arrested by the CBI for alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi’s new excise policy. The policy was withdrawn amid allegations of foul play by the opposition.