Delhi excise policy case: ED summons Kejriwal on Nov 2; AAP fears his arrest

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for questioning in an excise policy-linked money-laundering case on Thursday (November 2), official sources have confirmed.

Kejriwal (55) has been issued the summons under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The sources told news agency PTI on Monday (October 30) that the agency will record his statement once he deposes before the investigating officer of the case in Delhi.

The Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday (October 31) claimed there are apprehensions that the Enforcement Directorate will arrest Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on November 2 after questioning him in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam.

The ruling party in Delhi also alleged that the BJP was trying to finish it off by putting its top leaders behind bars.

The national convener of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has been asked to depose at the ED’s Delhi office at 11 am on November 2, the sources said.

This is the first time Kejriwal has been summoned by the ED. He was questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the case in April.

AAP-speak

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday (October 31), Delhi Cabinet Minister Atishi claimed the BJP was using these tactics to target the AAP as it knows that it cannot defeat Kejriwal in elections.

"There are reports that Kejriwal will be arrested on November 2. If he is arrested, it won't be because of corruption (charges) but because he has spoken against the BJP," she said.

"The AAP defeated the BJP in Delhi Assembly polls twice and also in MCD polls. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scared of AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal. The BJP knows they cannot defeat the AAP in elections."

Referring to the arrest of the AAP's top leadership, including Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, and Satyendar Jain, Atishi claimed it only means that the BJP wants to finish off the AAP.

Satyendar Jain has been granted bail in a money laundering case.

"After Kejriwal is arrested, the BJP will target other leaders of the INDIA alliance and its chief ministers using the CBI and ED,” said Atishi.

"Next they will target Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren since they have been unable to defeat him. Then they will target Tejashwi Yadav since they have not been able to break the alliance in Bihar. Then Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin will be targeted," claimed the AAP minister.

Atishi reiterated that AAP leaders are not scared of going to jail and will keep fighting to save the Constitution till their last breath.

Centre’s only goal is to finish the AAP: Saurabh Bharadwaj

Earlier, reacting to the summons, Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said it is clear that the BJP-led Centre's only goal is to finish the AAP. “They are leaving no stone unturned to frame Kejriwal in a fake case and send him to jail,” Bharadwaj said.

Senior AAP leader and Delhi minister Atishi, echoing her party colleague, said these moves show that the BJP is scared of the AAP.

“BJP is scared of the work being done in Delhi and Punjab (where AAP is in power). They are scared of free electricity, good schools and mohalla clinics. They want to frame AAP leaders in false cases and put them in jail. They want to finish AAP. As part of this conspiracy, ED summoned Arvind Kejriwal on November 2. They want to file a false case against him and arrest him,” she alleged.

She also reiterated that they were not scared of going to jail and would continue working for the people.

AAP leader Jasmine Shah said the BJP has only one objective — to use every tactic to arrest Arvind Kejriwal and finish off the Aam Aadmi Party.

BJP welcomes summons

The BJP, on the other hand, has welcomed the summons to Kejriwal, saying it was a “victory of truth”.

Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said the summons to Kejriwal and the rejection of former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia’s bail plea in the same case has vindicated the saffron party’s stand that there was a scam in the excise policy.

“Today, the rejection of Sisodia’s bail by the Supreme Court vindicated the BJP’s allegations of liquor scam and now the ED summons to Kejriwal is the final step to take this corruption saga to its conclusion with he himself landing in jail,” Sachdeva said on Monday.

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected two separate bail pleas of Sisodia in corruption and money-laundering cases related to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam and said a transfer of Rs 338 crore was tentatively established in the matter.

ED’s charges

The ED has mentioned Kejriwal’s name multiple times in its chargesheets filed in the case and said the accused were in touch with him regarding the preparation of the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22.

The agency has claimed in one of the chargesheets that it has recorded the statement of Buchibabu, an accountant allegedly linked to Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha, in which he said “there was political understanding between K Kavitha and the chief minister (Kejriwal) and (former) deputy chief minister (Manish Sisodia). In that process, K Kavitha also met Vijay Nair (AAP communications in-charge arrested in the case) on March 19-20, 2021.”

The ED has also claimed that arrested accused Dinesh Arora told the agency that he had met Kejriwal once at his residence.

Similarly, the ED chargesheet further said YSRCP MP Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy also held meetings with Kejriwal, wherein the AAP leader welcomed his entry into the Delhi liquor business.

It said Buchibabu and another accused, Arun Pillai, have revealed that they and Nair were working with the “support and sanction” of Kejriwal and Sisodia for all the excise policy-related activities, including its formulation and implementation.

It had also alleged that Nair “arranged a video call through Facetime (a video-calling facility on iPhone) on his phone for another arrested accused, Sameer (Mahendru), and Sh Arvind Kejriwal, where Sh Arvind said to Sh Sameer that Vijay is his boy and that Sh Sameer should trust him and carry on with him”.

Kejriwal’s earlier reaction

Kejriwal had then rubbished the contents of the ED complaint, saying the agency has “filed 5,000 chargesheets under the tenure of the current government”.

“How many people have been sentenced? All the cases filed by the ED are fake and they are used to topple governments or form them. The ED does not file cases to eradicate corruption. They do it to buy MLAs, topple governments. There is a question on the ED chargesheet,” he had said.

The Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders allegedly allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers who allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge strongly rubbished by the AAP.

The policy was subsequently scrapped and the Delhi Lieutenant Governor recommended a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in its implementation, following which the ED registered a case under the PMLA.

The CBI arrested Sisodia, who was minister-in-charge of the Excise Department, on February 26 this year. The ED registered a separate money-laundering case in the matter in October last year.

(With agency inputs)