THE JHARKHAND STORY DESK
New Delhi, Feb 2: Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, has chosen not to attend the Enforcement Directorate’s fifth summons in the liquor policy case. As a result, he will not be appearing before them today. According to the Aam Admi Party (AAP), the repeated summonses are an attempt to have him arrested.
Arvind Kejriwal ignored four previous summonses from the Enforcement Directorate during the previous four months, so on Wednesday the agency sent him a fifth and new summons. The Chief Minister of Delhi asserted that the summonses were “illegal.”
The AAP characterized the summonses as a strategy by Prime Minister Modi to detain Kejriwal, alleging that the Prime Minister’s objective is to dismantle the Delhi government by having him arrested.
The party said in a statement that they will never let this happen.
Kejriwal earlier said ED summons illegal
Before this fifth one, Kejriwal has avoided responding to summons from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) four times, on January 18, January 3, November 2, and December 22, deeming them as unlawful and driven by political motives.
In the case, the ED seeks to record Kejriwal’s statement regarding matters such as policy formulation, pre-finalization meetings, and bribery allegations.
Kejriwal called the third ED summons “illegal” and skipped it, stating that although he was willing to comply, the agency’s goal was to arrest him and prevent him from doing electoral campaigning.
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Simultaneous protests by AAP and BJP in Delhi
AAP and BJP have organized simultaneous protests in the national capital today. In anticipation of the demonstrations, security measures have been intensified in Central Delhi, including the deployment of extra personnel.
In response to allegations of cheating in the Chandigarh mayoral elections, the AAP will hold a demonstration outside the BJP headquarters. Kejriwal and his counterpart Bhagwant Mann from Punjab are set to take part in the protest.
The BJP has announced that its members will stage a protest against the “corruption” of the Arvind Kejriwal government in front of the AAP headquarters.
ED charges implicate Kejriwal’s involvement
The Central Bureau of Investigation’s First Information Report (FIR), alleges numerous irregularities in the development and execution of the Delhi excise policy (2021–22), serves as the foundation for the case against the head of the Aam Aadmi Party. The policy was rescinded in response to accusations of corruption.
The ED has stated that the AAP used bribes of Rs 45 crore obtained via the policy as part of their assembly elections campaign in Goa in 2022. The ED made this allegation in its sixth charge sheet, which was submitted on December 2, 2023, and named AAP leader Sanjay Singh and his aide Sarvesh Mishra.
In one of the six charge sheets filed in January 2023, it is mentioned that Kejriwal conveyed to businessman Sameer Mahendru that Vijay Nair, the former AAP communications in-charge, is someone he supports and trusts and advises Mahendru to place trust in him.
Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh, two prominent AAP leaders, are already being held in judicial custody in connection with this issue. The CBI arrested Sisodia, the deputy chief minister of Delhi at the time, on February 26 after multiple rounds of interrogation. The ED arrested Singh, a member of the Rajya Sabha, on October 5.
