Arvind Kejriwal gets fresh ED summons in Delhi excise case; charges bogus, claims AAP

New Delhi, December 18

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday issued summons to Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal for the second time in the last one and a half months for questioning in connection with a money laundering case linked to the Delhi excise policy scam.

Kejriwal has been asked to appear before the law enforcement agency on December 21. The summons to the Delhi CM relate to questioning in the Delhi excise policy case and for recording his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), official sources said.

It is alleged the Delhi Government’s excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge repeatedly refuted by AAP. Kejriwal was first called by the ED to appear on November 2, but he failed to depose, alleging the notice was “vague, motivated and unsustainable in law”.

Delhi government officials had on Saturday said Kejriwal would leave for a 10-day Vipassana meditation course at an undisclosed location on December 19.

AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh were earlier arrested in the excise policy case. Reacting to the summons, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak said the case was “bogus and fake”, adding their lawyers were studying the notice. “Anybody who questions Prime Minister Narendra Modi gets suspended or arrested. Modi fears and hates Kejriwal. He is most scared by Kejriwal’s politics and his Delhi model of governance. This is a bogus and fake case,” he said.