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The Enforcement Directorate has issued another summons to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, its eighth in the money laundering probe related to alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise policy 2021-22 case.
The central enforcement agency asked Kejriwal to appear before it on March 4. On all the past 7 occasions, Kejriwal has skipped the summons. Arvind Kejriwal has been maintaining that the ED summons were "illegal and politically motivated." The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) wants to record Kejriwal's statement in the excise policy case on issues like the formulation of policy, meetings held before it was finalised, and allegations of possible bribery. While skipping one of the previous summons Kejriwal termed it "illegal" saying he was ready to cooperate but the agency's intention was to arrest him and stop him from election campaigning. "These notices are being sent as part of a political conspiracy," Kejriwal had said after skipping the fifth notice. The case, which ED is probing is based on a First Information Report (FIR) alleging multiple irregularities in the formation and implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy (2021-22) by the Central Bureau of Investigation. The policy was withdrawn after allegations of corruption. In its sixth charge sheet filed in the case on December 2, 2023, naming AAP leader Sanjay Singh and his alleged aide Sarvesh Mishra, the ED had claimed that the AAP used kickbacks worth Rs 45 crore generated via the policy as part of its assembly elections campaign in Goa in 2022. Two senior AAP leaders -- Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh -- are already under judicial custody in the case. Sisodia, who was the then Delhi Deputy Chief Minister, was arrested by the CBI on February 26 following several rounds of questioning and on October 5, the ED arrested Singh, who is a Rajya Sabha member. (ANI)
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