2024-03-17 06:23:08
Arvind Kejriwal has skipped eight summons in the liquor policy case so far. (File)
New Delhi:
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has received two fresh summonses from the Enforcement Directorate (ED), including one in the Delhi liquor policy case, his cabinet colleague Atishi said today. The second notice is in connection with a “false” case linked to the Delhi Jal Board, the senior AAP leader said.
“Nobody knows what this DJB (Delhi Jal Board) case is about. This seems to be a backup plan to arrest Kejriwal anyhow and stop him from campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls,” she told reporters.
Mr Kejriwal has been asked to depose before the agency on Monday in the Delhi Jal Board case and on Thursday in the liquor policy case.
He has skipped eight summonses in the liquor policy case so far, calling them illegal. A day earlier, a Delhi court granted him bail for skipping six of the eight ED summonses.
Reacting to the ninth summons in the liquor policy case, a BJP leader said Mr Kejriwal is running away from the law and he should answer the questions posed by the agency.
“The ED has issued summons as per law. But Delhi Chief Minister is running away from it and only he knows why. He has a habit of playing the victim card,” said Delhi BJP leader Harish Khurrana.
The Delhi Chief Minister received the summons hours after the Lok Sabha election dates were announced, said Atishi, accusing the BJP of using the ED and the CBI to target their political opponents.
The ED is probing an alleged money laundering angle in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy for 2021-22, which allegedly benefited certain liquor dealers. The AAP has denied the allegations.
BRS leader K Kavitha was arrested in the case yesterday.
In the Delhi Jal Board case, the central agency has alleged that bribe money generated from a tender issued by the Delhi government was “passed on” as electoral funds to the AAP.
As part of the probe, the ED raided Mr Kejriwal’s personal assistant Bibhav Kumar, AAP MP ND Gupta, former DJB member Shalabh Kumar, chartered accountant Pankaj Mangal in February.
Retired Chief Engineer Jagdish Kumar Arora and contractor Anil Kumar Aggarwal were arrested in the bribery case in January.
According to a CBI FIR, Mr Arora had awarded a DJB contract to a company, NKG Infrastructure Ltd, for Rs 38 crore even though the company “did not meet” the technical eligibility criteria.
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