ED issues 4th summon to Kejriwal in Delhi excise case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued a fourth summon to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asking him to appear before the investigators on January 18 in the excise policy irregularities case. Kejriwal skipped the previous three summons, the last one issued against him on January 3, saying that the ED was not legally tenable and meant to arrest him ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

The fact that the ED issued fresh summons meant that the anti-money-laundering agency has not accepted the Delhi CM’s plea that it was “not in consonance with the law” and hence should be withdrawn, said sources aware of ED’s latest move. Kejriwal did not respond to summons seeking his presence on November 2 and December 21, 2023, either. He has been asked to depose before the agency at its headquarters on January 18 since it is “well within the PMLA procedures and law”.

As the news of the ED summons came out, Delhi Minister Gopal Rai repeated the charge that the ED wants to prevent Kejriwal from campaigning in the coming general elections. “Yesterday we announced the schedule of CM Arvind Kejriwal that he will visit Goa from January 18 to 20 in view of the Lok Sabha elections and today, the summon has been issued. This is not a coincidence. This is to prevent Arvind Kejriwal from campaigning for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections,” Rai said while questioning the timing of the summons.

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Responding to a query on whether the Delhi CM would appear before the ED on January 18, AAP leader Gopal Rai said they are consulting legal advisors and would act accordingly. Kejriwal, however, had stated earlier that he was not averse to joining the probe as he had appeared before the CBI in the same case last year.

The BJP and the Congress took on the AAP convenor Kejriwal for staying away from the probe. Kejriwal was behaving like a “fugitive” and AAP is trying to lend “political colour” to the ED’s probe, the Delhi BJP counter alleged.

Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit expressed his concerns about Kejriwal’s hesitation. He pointed out that when congress figures like Malikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi were summoned by the ED, they attended without hesitation. Dikshit questioned why Kejriwal couldn’t similarly present his perspective before the ED.

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The ED wanted to seek Kejriwal’sstatement on charges including the ₹100 crore bribe that was used by the AAP in the Goa elections, and that he was privy to irregularities committed by his cabinet colleague and former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia and excise policy officials to favour liquor lobby.