Security has been tightened outside the residence of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday morning after Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ministers claimed, citing unnamed inputs, that the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) is likely to arrest the AAP convener today.
These claims come after the Delhi Chief Minister skipped the third summons issued to him by the ED on Wednesday.
The ED issued a third summons to CM Kejriwal on December 22 last year, in connection with the alleged Delhi liquor scam case, asking him to appear before the agency on January 3.
Taking to the social media platform X, AAP leader and Delhi's Law and PWD Minister, Atishi on Wednesday, said, "News coming in that ED is going to raid@ArvindKejriwal's residence tomorrow morning. Arrest likely."
Minutes after Atishi's post, Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj also posted on X, claiming speculations about Kejriwal's arrest by the ED.
"It is heard that tomorrow morning, ED is going to reach the house of Chief Minister Kejriwal and arrest him," Bharadwaj said in his post.
Kejriwal, in his reply to the ED, expressed his readiness to cooperate with the investigation but declined to appear on the summoned date, calling the notice "illegal."
Kejriwal further questioned agency for not responding to his earlier replies when the summons was sent to him and he had raised certain queries on the nature of the agency's investigation.
In his written reply to the ED the Delhi CM said "As a premier investigating agency the non-disclosure and non-response approach adopted by you cannot sustain the test of law, equity or justice. Your obstinacy tantamount to assuming the role of judge, jury and executioner at the same time which is not acceptable in our country governed by the rule of law."
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"In these circumstances i urge you to respond to my earlier response and clarify the position so as to enable me to understand the real intent, ambit, nature, sweep and scope of the purported inquiry/investigation for which I am being called" he added in his response.
The Delhi CM was first called by the central agency to appear on November 2, but he did not depose, alleging that the notice was "vague, motivated, and unsustainable in law."
He further alleged that the said summons appeared to be politically motivated and issued for extraneous considerations. Meanwhile, the AAP also questioned the timing of the notice just before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.