ED may issue fresh summons as Kejriwal snubs ‘politically motivated’ notice

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is expected to issue fresh summons to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who did not appear for questioning before the agency in the excise policy-linked money-laundering case on Thursday (November 2), official sources said.

The sources said the investigating officer of the case has received a two-page letter from Kejriwal, also the national convener of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), where he has asked the agency to “recall” the said summons, as they are “vague, motivated and unsustainable in law”.

The reply of the CM, according to the sources, is being examined by the ED.

Sources indicated that a fresh date for Kejriwal could be issued for a closer date as the Supreme Court has recently taken note of the prosecution's assurance that the trial in the case will be concluded within the next 6-8 months.

Kejriwal on Thursday left for Madhya Pradesh poll campaigning instead. “He will be going to Madhya Pradesh’s Singrauli where he will take part in a roadshow along with Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. He will leave for Madhya Pradesh in a while,” a party source said, barely an hour before Kejriwal’s scheduled questioning by the ED.

Kejriwal was supposed to depose at the probe agency’s Delhi office at 11 am on Thursday. Hours before that, on Thursday morning, the Delhi CMO revealed that in his reply to the notice, Kejriwal wrote to the agency demanding that it withdraw the notice, claiming it was “illegal and politically motivated” and aimed at preventing him from campaigning in the poll-bound states.

Kejriwal also alleged that the notice was sent to him at the behest of the BJP.

AAP allegation

Earlier, at a press conference, AAP leader Raghav Chadha claimed that rattled by the formation of the INDIA alliance, the BJP has hatched a plan to target its top leaders. “The first arrest in this plan will be of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal,” he said.

“The BJP knows it is losing all the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi. It is planning to get Kejriwal arrested so that AAP is not able to contest the polls,” Chadha added.

“After Kejriwal, they will arrest Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and then Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Tejashwi Yadav and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee. After these leaders, they will target Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and then top leaders of the Shiv Sena and the NCP in Maharashtra,” he alleged.

Security beefed up

Security was beefed up in Delhi on Thursday ahead of Kejriwal’s scheduled questioning by the ED. A large number of personnel was deployed in central Delhi as part of the security arrangements to prevent AAP workers from gathering around the ED office.

Multiple layers of barricades were put up at the ED office on the Tughlaq Road and a large number of police and paramilitary personnel were also deployed, an official said.

Police personnel have also been deployed on roads leading to the BJP office at DDU Marg in Central Delhi. Barricades have also been erected near the AAP office in the ITO area. Central Delhi witnessed minor traffic jams near the ITO, Vikas Marg, and India Gate because of the security arrangements.

Case history

The CBI and the ED are probing the Delhi government’s now-scrapped excise policy for 2021-22 that allegedly favoured certain liquor dealers, an allegation that the AAP has strongly denied. Based on a report of the chief secretary of the Delhi government, Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena recommended a CBI probe in July last year into alleged irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the policy.

The report cited various alleged irregularities including a waiver of Rs 144 crore to the retail licensees under the policy in the name of COVID-19-impacted sales and a refund of Rs 30 crore to a successful bidder for the airport zone who failed to obtain a no objection certificate for opening liquor stores there, officials said.

Another allegation was that the commission of wholesale licensees was raised from 5 to 12 per cent in an instance of “quid pro quo”, they added.

(With agency inputs)