The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has summoned Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for questioning in connection with the excise policy case on Sunday. Last month, the CBI arrested former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in the case.
According to the notice issued by the CBI, Kejriwal has been called to appear at the agency headquarters at 11 am on Sunday to depose as a witness in the case, officials said.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) dubbed the CBI move a conspiracy and confirmed that Kejriwal will appear before the agency on Sunday. The AAP alleged that the BJP was conspiring to arrest Kejriwal in the “fabricated” excise policy case, and stressed that their fight against corruption won’t be hampered.
Addressing a Press conference, AAP Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh described the summons as a desperate attempt by the BJP to silence their opposition and said these summons will only strengthen Kejriwal’s anti-corruption crusade.
“The fact remains that the Centre is tainted with accusations of wide-scale corruption and nothing can change that.
“Kejriwal swore to expose the reality of the PM in the Assembly that day. But now, this expose will stir up a storm across the nation,” he said.
There are allegations that money raised from tweaking the policy in favour of certain liquor dealers and the South lobby was suspected to be pumped in for election purposes by the AAP, which is under investigation, agency sources said, adding, Kejriwal’s questioning could help in establishing the money trail.
The process of policy formulation and influence of South lobby, besides changes in the draft stages, was in the knowledge of the Chief Minister, which makes it necessary to put questions to him, they said.
The sources further said Kejriwal is likely to quizzed about an “untraceable” file containing details of the expert committee report and public comments when the policy was at a nascent stage of formulation and referral of the issue to Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Sisodia; besides his possible conversation with suspects in the case.
The final role of Kejriwal in the case, whether as a witness or an accused, will be decided while filing a charge sheet in the case after considering multiple factors like evidence and statements of other accused in the case. As of now, Kejriwal will be questioned as a witness, they said.
The CBI is bracing for an elaborate security arrangement around its headquarters and fixed Sunday for questioning as the offices, mostly Government ones, in the vicinity remain closed. The agency had adopted the same strategy when Sisodia was called at the agency headquarters, where he was grilled for eight hours before being taken into custody.
The case relates to allegations against the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22 which was abused for granting licences to liquor traders who had allegedly paid bribes for it.
Subsequently, the policy was scrapped.
“It was further alleged that irregularities were committed, including modifications in excise policy, extending undue favours to the licensees, waiver/reduction in license fee, the extension of L-1 licence without approval, etc.,” said a CBI spokesperson after the FIR was filed on August 17, 2022.
The CBI had filed its charge sheet against seven accused on November 25 last year, but it had kept investigation open against prime accused in the FIR then Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
The CBI has alleged in the charge sheet that the Delhi Government’s excise policy for 2021-22 was framed in a manner to promote cartelisation and monopoly at the wholesale level and set up a 12 per cent profit margin for wholesalers on an upfront payment of Rs 100 crore to another accused Vijay Nair through Dinesh Arora, an alleged close associate of Sisodia.
In its further probe, the CBI had found that an expert committee under the then Excise Commissioner Ravi Dhawan was constituted to suggest changes in the policy. The committee submitted its report on the proposed changes on October 13, 2020.
The report neither recommended a zonal licence system at the retail level nor privatisation at the wholesale level, which was not to the liking of Sisodia, the CBI has alleged.
The agency alleged that the three-member Group of Ministers (GoM) was constituted on February 5, 2021, to suggest changes in the excise policy. The GoM route was allegedly adopted to change the recommendations of the expert committee, officials said.
The recommendations of the expert committee were put in the public domain on December 31, 2020, inviting comments from the public.
When the report, along with comments from the public and legal opinion, was put before the Council of Ministers, it was allegedly not taken up for discussion, and the file remained untraceable since then, the officials said.
Soon after, a revised note was prepared without legal opinion based on which the GoMs was constituted under Sisodia. Satyendar Jain and Kailash Gehlot were members of the GoM, they said.
In February, the GoM met but there was no discussion on the wholesale model for the liquor trade. In the first week of March, Nair met liquor traders and middlemen allegedly demanding commission for a favourable excise policy.
During his attempts to get money from liquor traders, Nair, who was also handling communications for the AAP, allegedly met South lobby members.
The recovered chats showed that the South Lobby was allegedly involved in tweaking the excise policy in their favour, the officials claimed.
The CBI inquiry was recommended on the findings of the Delhi Chief Secretary’s report filed in July last year showing prima facie violations of the GNCTD Act 1991, Transaction of Business Rules (ToBR)-1993, Delhi Excise Act-2009 and Delhi Excise Rules-2010, they said.
Delhi Chief Secretary’s report had shown prima facie violations, including “deliberate and gross procedural lapses”, to provide post-tender “undue benefits to liquor licencees” through the policy.
It is alleged that undue financial favours were extended to liquor licencees after the tenders were awarded, causing loss to the exchequer.
The excise department reportedly gave a waiver of Rs 144.36 crore to the licensees on the tendered licence fee on the excuse of Covid-19.
The department also refunded the earnest money of Rs 30 crore to the lowest bidder for the licence of the airport zone when it failed to obtain a no-objection certificate (NOC) from airport authorities.
Following the summons, the AAP on Friday alleged that the CBI summoned Kejriwal as he spoke about the Adani issue and asserted that such notices will not deter their fight against corruption.
Addressing a press conference, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said the CBI summon was a conspiracy to arrest CM Kejriwal.
“Delhi chief minister had spoken about the Adani issue in Delhi Vidhan Sabha. That same day, I had told him that you will be next. Narendra Modi-led Centre is corrupt from head to toe and Kejriwal’s fight against corruption won’t stop due to such notices,” Singh said.
The senior AAP leader said Kejriwal will appear before CBI on April 16.
“This notice is a conspiracy to arrest CM Kejriwal. This notice will neither be able to silence the AAP nor Kejriwal,” he said.
Senior AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP also claimed that the Delhi CM had been summoned because “he exposed the alleged ties between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and industrialist Gautam Adani during an assembly session.”
He also accused the BJP-led government of attempting to arrest the CM. The MP described the move as “a desperate attempt by a power-crazed Prime Minister and his party to silence their opposition.”
Meanwhile, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Friday taunted the Modi government after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was summoned by the CBI for questioning, saying it should put all Opposition leaders in a gas chamber and finish them off “Nazi-style”.
Reacting to the development, RJD MP and spokesperson Manoj Jha said, “I would request the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi), the Home Minister (Amit Shah), that they should put all opposition leaders in a gas chamber and finish them off Nazi-style.”
“You work in a dictatorial manner. You are seeing that power is slipping out of your hands so you have pushed the probe agencies in a state that they can only see the houses of Opposition leaders who speak against you. Continue doing this but your end is near,” Jha said in a video statement, slamming the government.
“In order to save yourself from the Adani issue, you have targeted the Congress, NCP, AAP, BRS, has anyone been spared? What is left now is your fear that your friend will get exposed,” the RJD leader said.
The sharp reaction of the RJD came in the backdrop of party chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family facing heat from the CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the land-for-jobs ‘scam’ in the Railways.
