Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal has been sent three successive summons pertaining to his alleged role in the Delhi excise policy case and has skipped them all. He was issued the first summons by the Enforcement Directorate in October 2023, wherein the ED asked him to appear for questioning on November 2. The second summons was sent by the organisation again on December 18, asking him to appear on December 21.
The third summons asked him to appear on Wednesday. The summons being sent to him are in relation to the Delhi excise policy case, as mentioned earlier.
All three times, Kejriwal has refused to appear for questioning in front of the Enforcement Directorate. This time, he sent a letter to the organisation instead stating that he was busy with arrangements for the forthcoming Rajya Sabha election on
January 19. He has stated in his letter that the summons to him was “not based upon any objective or rational yardstick” but pure “propaganda”.
In his letter to the Asst. Director, of Enforcement Directorate, Kejriwal has cited the organisation’s approach of “non-disclosure” and “non-response” as reasons for not presenting himself for questioning in front of the organization in connection with the excise policy case. He also stated that he would be “happy to answer” any questionnaire that was sent to him by ED.
Kejriwal Says The BJP’s Objective Is Not Fair Investigation
In a press conference regarding the issue, Arvind Kejriwal asked,” “Should I honour illegal summons? The BJP’s objective is not a fair investigation, but to stop the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) from campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections… They want to call me in the name of an investigation and then place me under arrest so I can’t campaign for the Lok Sabha polls.
Slamming the central government for its behaviour towards his party and its members, the AAP leader said, “For the last two years, every agency under the BJP has conducted multiple raids and made multiple arrests in the name of the alleged excise scam but has not been able to recover a single paisa.”
AAP Leaders Apprehend Arrest Of Chief Minister Kejriwal
AAP leaders went into a close discussion after yesterday’s development. Many of them later put forth their apprehensions about the Chief Minister’s impending arrest by ED today through posts on social media.
Notably, Kejriwal’s party colleagues, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, and communications in-charge Vijay Nair were arrested earlier in connection with the case filed over the Delhi excise policy that now stands scrapped. There were alleged irregularities in its formulation and implementation that landed top AAP leaders and officials in trouble.
Bengali