CBI summons Kejriwal in excise case; AAP says plan afoot for arrest
The CBI has summoned Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in connection with the excise policy scam case on Sunday (April 16), officials said on Friday (April 14).
Kejriwal has been asked to be present at the agency headquarters at 11 AM to answer queries of the investigating team, they said.
The central probe agency has already arrested former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia in connection with the case.
Also read: ED, CBI raids have brought all corrupt people in one political party: Kejriwal
It is alleged that the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge strongly refuted by the AAP. The policy was later scrapped.
“It was further alleged that irregularities were committed, including modifications in Excise Policy, extending undue favours to the licensees, waiver/reduction in licence fee, the extension of L-1 license without approval etc.
Also read: Delhi excise scam: CBI court extends Sisodia’s custody till April 17
“It was also alleged that illegal gains on the count of these acts were diverted to concerned public servants by private parties by making false entries in their books of accounts,” a CBI spokesperson had said after FIR filed on August 17, 2022.
AAP alleges conspiracy to arrest Kejriwal
In a press conference on Friday, AAP’s senior leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over CBI summons to Kejriwal. He said Kejriwal will appear before the CBI on Sunday.
“Arvind Kejriwal has been sent a CBI summons. I would like to tell the PM that you and your government are covered in corruption from head to toe and Arvind Kejriwal’s fight will not stop with this CBI summons. The conspiracy hatched by you to arrest, jail and take action against Arvind Kejriwal on 16th April will not stifle his voice,” said Sanjay.
He alleged that the “black money” belonging to a businessman friend of the PM was Modi’s money.
“The very day that he had exposed, on the floor of the Delhi Assembly, that the black money belonging to a businessman friend of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was actually his, I had told him that he would be next (to go behind bars)”, said Sanjay.
