Delhi excise policy case: ED grills AAP leader Kailash Gahlot for 5 hours
Sources said Gahlot was questioned with regard to the formulation of the excise policy for 2021-22, as he was part of the Group of Ministers
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday (March 30) questioned Delhi minister Kailash Gahlot for about five hours in connection with the Delhi excise policy. The agency recorded his statement in its money-laundering probe linked to the now-scrapped policy, said officials.
Gahlot (49), an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA from Najafgarh, is the minister for transport, home and law in the Delhi government led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who the agency has arrested in the case.
The minister entered the ED office in central Delhi around 11.30 am and left after 4.30 pm. He said he had answered all the questions from the agency and would continue to cooperate in the probe.
Was part of GoM
Sources said Gahlot was questioned with regard to the formulation of the excise policy for 2021-22, as he was part of the Group of Ministers (GoM), along with former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and former Urban Development Minister Satyendar Jain.
Gahlot, too, said the ED had possibly called him for questioning as he “was part of the GoM”. He said the agency questioned him “about all aspects of the policy” and he “answered to the best of [his] knowledge and memory”.
He said this was the second summons sent to him, as he could not depose for the first time about a month back, as the Budget session of the Delhi Assembly was on.
On government bungalow
The agency has mentioned Gahlot’s name in its charge sheet, and in the context of Vijay Nair, the AAP communications in-charge arrested earlier in the case, saying Nair lived in the government bungalow allotted to Gahlot.
Describing the practice of allowing the use of a government residence to someone else by a public servant as a “criminal breach of trust”, the ED had said it had asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to take action in the matter.
Gahlot told reporters that he told the agency he had no information that Nair used to live in a bungalow allotted to him. “I have never lived in my official bungalow at Civil Lines. Vijay Nair was living there or not, I have no information,” he said, adding that there was no cross-questioning or confrontation with any other person or statement.
“I never shifted to that bungalow and live with my family at my own house in Vasant Kunj that is in front of the school of my children,” he said.
On Goa polls
The minister also said he was not involved in the Goa Assembly polls. It is alleged that the money from the alleged Delhi excise policy scam was spent by the AAP in the Assembly polls in the coastal state.
“I have no idea about Goa and I had never been part of campaigning and had no knowledge who was in charge there or what activities were taking place,” he said.
“No scam”
Gahlot asserted that there was no “scam” and it would become clearer in time.
“There is no scam here... as time goes by, everyone will be convinced about this,” he told reporters while exiting the ED office.
The ED has alleged that the excise policy was leaked to the “South Group” liquor lobby that included Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha.
This group is alleged to have given Rs 100 crore kickbacks to the AAP and its leaders, according to the agency.
On ED charge
Asked about Kejriwal skipping nine ED summonses before his arrest, Gahlot said, “I would not like to say anything regarding this.”
The ED has also alleged in its charge sheet that Gahlot handled a single SIM number but his IMEI (international mobile equipment identity) was changed thrice.
“I cannot tell you what questions I was asked today as these are confidential proceedings,” the minister said.
Delhi excise policy case
The Delhi excise policy case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22 that was later scrapped.
Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena recommended a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the liquor policy. Subsequently, the ED registered a case under the PMLA.
AAP leaders Sisodia and Sanjay Singh were arrested by the ED in the case earlier and they are in judicial custody.
The AAP and its leaders have repeatedly denied the charges of wrongdoing, with Kejriwal alleging that the case was built by the BJP-led Centre to create a “smokescreen” that AAP is a corrupt party.
(With agency inputs)
