Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for the seventh time in connection with the excise policy "scam" and has been asked to appear on Monday, February 26.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has skipped six ED summons so far in connection with the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.
Skipping the last ED summon on Monday (February 19), Arvind Kejriwal had said the probe agency "should wait for the court's judgement before issuing any fresh summon." AAP had also said ED should wait for court's decision instead of repeatedly summoning Kejriwal.
AAP leader Atishi called the fresh ED summon an attempt by the BJP to take "revenge" for the Supreme Court verdict on the Chandigarh mayoral poll in favour of the party. "This summons is just an attempt at revenge by the BJP for the Supreme Court upholding democracy in its verdict on the Chandigarh mayoral poll. This is a revenge for the AAP's victory in the Chandigarh mayoral poll," Atishi said.
A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud on Tuesday overturned the result of the Chandigarh mayoral poll, in which the BJP candidate had emerged an unlikely winner, and declared the AAP-Congress alliance nominee, Kuldeep Kumar, as the new mayor.
A Delhi court on February 17 granted exemption to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal from personal appearance for the day in connection with a complaint filed by the ED against him over non-compliance with its summonses in a money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped excise policy.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Divya Malhotra granted relief to Kejriwal after the AAP convener appeared before the court via video conferencing and urged for exemption from physical appearance for the day.
The application moved by Kejriwal's counsel stated that the Budget Session of the Delhi Legislative Assembly has commenced on February 15 and shall continue till the first week of March, 2024.
The ED filed a fresh complaint case against Kejriwal for non-compliance of its summonses on February 3 .The AAP convenor had earlier written to the ED, describing the summonses issued to him as "illegal and politically motivated". He had alleged that the summonses were aimed at preventing him from campaigning in elections.
The ED summon pertains to the excise policy-linked money laundering case, for which his party colleagues Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain have been jailed. Satyendar Jain is currently out on bail.
Allegations are that 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. The policy was subsequently scrapped and the Delhi lieutenant governor recommended a CBI probe, following which the ED registered a case under the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act).
