New Delhi (TIP)- Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday, January 18, skipped summons from the Enforcement Directorate, calling them illegal, and alleging they were part of a conspiracy to stop him from campaigning for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Later in the afternoon, he left for Goa, where he is assessing the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP’s) preparedness in the state for the general elections. ED had asked Kejriwal, who is also the AAP national convenor, to appear before it in connection with its money laundering probe into alleged irregularities in Delhi’s 2021-22 excise policy. This was the fourth time Kejriwal skipped summons by ED — he previously failed to appear before the agency on November 2, on December 22, and on January 3. Kejriwal and his party have repeatedly objected to the summons saying it is not clear whether he was asked to appear as a witness or suspect; as chief minister or as AAP chief; and that the agency has not made available any details of its line of questioning. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), meanwhile, accused Kejriwal of “evasive behaviour”. In response to a question about the summons, he said, “ED sent me fourth notice asking me to appear on January 18 or 19. All the four summonses are illegal and invalid. Different courts have termed such general, non-specific ED summons illegal and have quashed them. I have written to ED multiple times on why the ED notices are illegal, but ED has not responded.” Alleging that the notices are part of a political conspiracy, Kejriwal added, “The probe (in the excise case) is going on for two years, but they have found nothing. The courts have asked them how much money was recovered and what other things such as cash, gold were recovered… Two months before Lok Sabha polls, I have been summoned. BJP leaders are saying that I will be arrested. How the BJP knows that I will be arrested? It is because the BJP is running ED… The purpose of the summons is to arrest me before polls and stop me from campaigning.” People aware of the matter said Kejriwal was also upset by the language used by ED in a communication dated January 12, that was addressed to the chief minister. According to the people, Kejriwal objected to the use of the phrases “excuse”, “extraneous reasons”, “camouflage your real motive”, and “intentionally disobeying your summons” in the ED communication, and in response, wrote to the central agency, stating that its “bias and prejudice against me are apparent from various innuendos hurled at me”.
AAP has accused ED of dropping or stalling investigations of leaders the moment they become associated with BJP. Claiming that the agency was acting in a “blatantly biased” manner, a senior party official, on condition of anonymity, said, “Narayan Rane was being investigated by ED in a ?300 crore money laundering case. After joining BJP in 2019, no raids or further investigation has taken place.”
Meanwhile, the BJP accused Kejriwal of making excuses to skip the ED summons.
“Kejriwal may make excuses, but he will have to honour the ED summons and the law will take its course. Kejriwal has to answer a lot of questions related to the excise policy,” said Delhi BJP secretary Harish Khurana.
ED likely to issue 5th summons to Kejriwal
With Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal skipping his fourth summons in connection with a money laundering probe stemming from the investigation into alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise police 2021-22, Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials said their case is now left in limbo, even as they are deliberating on their next steps. People familiar with the developments said a fresh, fifth summon is likely to be issued to Kejriwal, but a call on the same is yet to be taken. “A call is yet to be taken on the next steps. But the Delhi CM has once again disregarded our summons to join investigations,” said an officer, who didn’t want to be named.
Source: HT