The Enforcement Directorate on Monday summoned Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal for questioning in the Delhi excise policy case.
The summons were issued on the day the Supreme Court rejected his former deputy Manish Sisodia’s bail plea in the case, further directing the trial in the cases being investigated against him by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) be completed within the next 8 months.
Reacting to the summons, Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said,”As per the news that the Central Government’s ED has sent summon to Delhi CM, it gets clear that the Centre has only one aim to somehow finish AAP. They are not leaving a stone unturned in framing a false case to put CM Arvind Kejriwal in jail and to finish AAP.”
On April 16, Kejriwal was questioned by the CBI for around nine hours in connection with the corruption and criminal conspiracy probe in the case. “I was called at 11 am and they questioned me till 8.30pm. They questioned me in a cordial atmosphere. I want to thank CBI officers for their hospitality and courtesy. I answered all the questions because I did not have anything to hide”, Kejriwal had said.
Two Aam Aadmi Party leaders, ex-deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh are in jail in connection with the case.
In November 2021, the Arvind Kejriwal government had implemented the new Delhi excise policy case. On July 31 last year, the government scrapped if after the policy came under scanner.
On August 17, 2022, the CBI had registered case in connection with alleged irregularities in the implementation of the policy against 15 accuysed including Sisodia. Two days later, the agency had carried out searches at the AAP leader’s premises in Delhi.
On October 17, Sisodia was questioned by the CBI for around eight hours. On February 18 this year, the CBI again summoned him days after filing a chargesheet in the case. The AAP leader was finally arrested on February 26 by the central agency.
