ED may issue fourth summons to Arvind Kejriwal in excise policy case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) may issue its fourth summons to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal after examining his reply regarding his refusal to appear before the agency in the alleged excise policy case. The ED case is based on a First Information Report registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) alleging multiple irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the Delhi excise policy (2021-22) which was scrapped following corruption allegations.

Kejriwal, who is also the national convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), was first called by the ED to appear on November 2, 2023, but he did not depose alleging that the notice was “vague, motivated and unsustainable in law”. He has to appear at the ED headquarters in New Delhi on December 21, 2023, according to the latest summons issued by the agency.

The development comes days after Delhi government officials said Kejriwal will leave for a 10-day Vipassana meditation course at an undisclosed location from December 19, 2023. AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh are among those arrested in this case by the ED and the agency is expected to file a supplementary charge sheet in the case soon.

The AAP has alleged that Kejriwal would be arrested as part of the BJP’s plan to target top INDIA bloc leaders ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and the ED notice was an attempt to finish the party that is in power in Delhi and Punjab. The ED has mentioned Kejriwal’s name multiple times in its charge sheets filed in the case and said the accused were in touch with him regarding the preparation of the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22.

The ED charge sheet said that the accused had a political understanding with Kejriwal and Sisodia and met them several times to discuss the excise policy. It also said that some of the accused were working with the “support and sanction” of Kejriwal and Sisodia for all excise policy-related activities- including formulation as well as implementation.

The ED case is linked to the CBI case which was registered in January 2023 on the basis of a complaint by Delhi BJP leader Vijender Gupta. The CBI had alleged that the Delhi government had favoured certain private entities in granting liquor licences under the new excise policy, causing a loss of over Rs 5,000 crore to the exchequer.

The CBI had recorded Kejriwal’s statement on April 16, 2023, and after being questioned for over nine hours, he had told the media persons that the entire case was fabricated, and the agencies did not have any proof and that it was a result of “dirty politics”. He had alleged that the entire case was being built to bring down the AAP.

Sisodia, who was the then Delhi Deputy Chief Minister, was arrested by the CBI on February 26, 2023, following several rounds of questioning and on October 5, 2023, the ED arrested Singh, who is a Rajya Sabha member, following several hours of questioning. Both of them are currently lodged in Tihar jail and their bail pleas have been rejected by the courts.

The ED has also attached assets worth over Rs 200 crore belonging to some of the accused in the case under the PMLA. The agency has claimed that the accused had laundered the proceeds of crime generated from the illegal liquor trade in Delhi through various shell companies and bank accounts.

The ED has also alleged that some of the accused had links with politicians from other parties such as the BRS and the YSRCP and had tried to influence the excise policy in their favour. The agency has said that it is probing the role of these politicians and their associates in the case.

The ED case is one of the several cases that the AAP is facing from the central agencies. The party has accused the BJP-led central government of misusing the agencies to harass and intimidate its leaders and workers. The BJP, on the other hand, has denied any political vendetta and said that the AAP is trying to evade accountability and cover up its corruption.