The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Delhi Chief Minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal for the fifth time in connection with a money laundering case linked to the Delhi liquor policy case.
The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday issued fresh summons to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in connection with the Delhi excise policy case. This is the fifth summon to the Aam Aadmi Party chief. Arvind Kejriwal has skipped four summonses issued by the probe agency so far.
The AAP leader was supposed to appear before the ED on January 18, when the agency issued a fourth summons to him. However, he skipped the summons with the party saying he was not an accused. Kejriwal had gone on a three-day visit to Goa with Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
On December 22, the Delhi chief minister received a third summons from the anti-corruption bureau requesting that he appear before it on January 3. But the AAP head also ignored the third summons. This time, among the reasons Kejriwal gave for not appearing before the central inquiry agency in his statement to the ED was his hectic schedule because of the Rajya Sabha elections and Republic Day celebrations. He had claimed that the ED had delivered summonses with the exact same wording and style once more without responding to his previous responses.
The AAP chief skipped the Enforcement Directorate’s second summon as well, saying that they are “illegal”, “politically motivated” adding that they “should be withdrawn”. The second summon, which asked him to appear before the anti-corruption agency on December 21, was issued to Kejriwal on December 18.
The Enforcement Directorate had issued the first summon to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on October 30, 2023. It asked him to appear before the federal agency on November 2 for questioning in connection with the alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped excise policy.