The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned AAP convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, asking him to appear on February 2 in connection with the liquor excise policy case. This is the fifth summons sent to Kejriwal; he was first summoned on November 2, followed by December 21, January 3, and January 13.
Sources in the AAP said the party will hold a protest outside the BJP headquarters in Delhi on February 2 over alleged cheating in the Chandigarh mayoral polls. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann will also take part in the protest. The decision to hold the protest comes on the same day Kejriwal was issued a fresh summons by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for questioning in connection with an excise policy-linked money laundering case.
Kejriwal did not appear for questioning on the previous four occasions, he has responded by way of letters, citing various prior commitments, including a 10-day meditation retreat, and allegations the agency's calls were "illegal" and designed to arrest him less than three months before a general election. Last month, after the third summons, he slammed the agency's actions as "politically motivated" and "illegal".
Reacting to the development, AAP chief national spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar said in a brief statement, "We have received news about the fifth summons. Our legal team is studying it and we will decide what to do as per law. The earlier summonses were illegal and we had sought a reply from the Enforcement Directorate."
He skipped the first summons because he was campaigning for the Madhya Pradesh election. As per the fourth summons, he was asked to appear for questioning on January 18. However, he wrote to the ED that he was busy with Rajya Sabha elections and Republic Day preparations. A few days before the fourth summons, the AAP had announced that Kejriwal would visit Goa between January 18 and 20.
Kejriwal and the AAP asked the ED why the Chief Minister had been called if he has not, so far, been named as an accused in the case.
"This is being done to stop him from campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls. ED has said Kejriwal is not an accused... then why were summons issued to him," the AAP had said. In his letter, Kejriwal also called the summons “illegal” and said it had not been made clear to him in which capacity he was to appear—as a witness or an accused.
AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh apart from communications in-charge of the party Vijay Nair and some businessmen have been arrested in this case by the ED till now. The ED had claimed in its charge sheet that the AAP used "proceeds of crime" to the tune of about Rs 45 crore in its Goa election campaign.
It is alleged that 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 the AAP.
The policy was subsequently scrapped and Delhi Lt Governor V K Saxena recommended a CBI probe, following which the ED registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).