Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal made it clear he would not be responding to summons, issued for the fourth time by the Enforcement Directorate, seeking his presence either on Thursday or Friday for recording statement in the excise case.
He again dubbed summons as illegal and issued to arrest him ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, expected in April and May. “The BJP is running the ED. They only intend to arrest me so that I cannot campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections,” he said. Kejriwal informed that he has replied to the ED on the summons.
“The four notices sent me are illegal in the eyes of the law. Such general, non-specific notices have been quashed in the past by the courts. I have repeatedly written to the ED saying the notices are illegal but they have not replied to me,” the Chief Minister told reporters on the sidelines of an event.
The AAP convenor, who had appeared before the CBI last year in the same case, also charged that false statements are being extracted out of the people by beating them up. Former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and AAP MP Sanjay Singh have been arrested by the agency in the case where it is alleged that the Delhi excise policy was tweaked to favour certain liquor lobby in lieu of bribe.