Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has decided to not appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for questioning, deeming the notice as illegal. Instead, he sent a written reply to the ED, affirming his willingness to cooperate while expressing concerns about the alleged motive behind the notice.
AAP official said “Ready to cooperate in ED investigation but the agency's notice is illegal. Their intention is to arrest Arvind Kejriwal. They want to stop him from election campaign,” as quoted by ANI.
In a letter to ED, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has sought a questionnaire from the agency and also questioned the intent of the summons served to him. He also mentions in the letter that the Rajya Sabha elections are to take place on January 19 and he also has to participate in the… pic.twitter.com/hT4epKJofk— ANI (@ANI) January 3, 2024
HT's report states that Kejriwal was summoned by the ED for questioning on January 3 in connection with an excise policy-linked money laundering case. This is the third instance where Kejriwal has declined to appear before the federal agency. The previous summonses were issued on November 2 and December 21.
Shehzad Poonawalla, the national spokesperson for the BJP, alleged that Kejriwal's response to the ED summons “shows that there is something to hide, and that is why he is acting like an absconder.
”During a press conference, Priyanka Kakkar, the chief national spokesperson of AAP, stated that the party will abide by the law in response to the ED's summons to Kejriwal.
In October 2023, Sanjay Singh, a member of AAP Rajya Sabha, was arrested by the CBI for alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of Delhi's new excise policy. This policy had been withdrawn earlier due to allegations of foul play by the opposition. Similarly, in February 2023, Manish Sisodia, the then deputy CM of Delhi, was also arrested in connection with the same case.
The agency has arrested a total of 14 individuals up to now, and ED has approached the court seeking permission to investigate AAP as a beneficiary of the “proceeds of crime”.
(With Input from agencies)
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