Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday responded to the fresh summons issued by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in connection with the Delhi excise policy case, saying it was ‘politically motivated’ and ‘illegal’ like the previous one.
“I am ready to accept every legal summons. This summons of ED is also illegal like the previous ones. ED’s summons are politically motivated. They should be withdrawn. I lived my life with honesty and transparency. I have nothing to hide,” CM Kejriwal said in a statement on Thursday.
The ED, on December 18, issued fresh summons to CM Kejriwal, asking him to appear before the central agency for questioning on December 21 in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam. Fellow AAP leader and Delhi Minister Atishi launched a scathing attack on the BJP-led Centre over the summons issued to the CM, saying that the saffron party uses central probe agencies to intimidate and silence leaders of the opposition.
She asserted that the AAP won’t bow down to such threats by the ED and the CBI. Hitting out at the BJP-led Centre, Atishi said it fears Kejriwal’s model of governance, which is why leaders of the ruling AAP were being hounded by the central agencies and put in jail.
“It is clear the BJP are scared of the Aam Aadmi Party and the model of governance of our leader, Arvind Kejriwal, which is why the leaders of our party are being thrown in jail one by one. The BJP are using agencies at their disposal to scare us,” Atishi told ANI. The Delhi CM was first called by the federal agency to appear for questioning on November 2, but he skipped the summons, claiming it to be “vague, motivated, and unsustainable in law.”.
“The said summons is not clear as to the capacity in which I am being summoned, i.e., as a witness or a suspect in the above-mentioned case. Please recall the said summons, which is to say the least is vague and motivated, and I am advised, unsustainable in law,” Kejriwal stated in his letter to Jogendar, assistant director, ED, after being summoned earlier. Kejriwal was earlier summoned by the CBI in April this year in connection with the same case.
However, the CM was not named as an accused in the FIR filed by the CBI on August 17 last year. In February 2023, Kejriwal’s Deputy Manish Sisodia was arrested by the CBI for alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of Delhi’s new excise policy.
The policy was withdrawn amid allegations of foul play by the opposition.
