Kejriwal receives the sixth ED summons in the excise scam

NEW DELHI: Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, was served with a sixth and new summons by the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday to appear in court on a money laundering case involving excise laws. According to official sources, the national convener of the AAP has been ordered to step down before the Central agency on February 19.

A Delhi court had summoned the chief minister of Delhi to appear before it on February 17 in response to a complaint the ED had filed earlier this month about the chief minister’s disregard for an ED summons in a case involving the excise policy. Primarily, the court said that the AAP leader is “legally bound” to comply.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) said in its complaint that Mr. Kejriwal was called in for questioning on many times to discover his involvement, as well as the roles of others, and to track down more proceeds of crime in the continuing investigations.

According to the agency, the chief minister of Delhi deliberately disregarded every summons and classified each instance of noncompliance as a distinct offense.

The chief minister of Delhi has been accused by the Central Financial Probe Agency of purposefully ignoring the summons and continuing to make “lame excuses”. The agency said that it would “set the wrong example for the common man” if a high-ranking public servant like him broke the law.

The ED has sent the former Indian revenue service officer six summonses in this matter. He was previously called on December 21 and November 2 of last year, as well as on February 2, January 18, and January 3 of this year. Until now, the chief minister of Delhi had ignored all five prior summonses, referring to them as “illegal”.

There have been several mentions of Mr. Kejriwal in the ED chargesheets related to this matter. According to the CBI, he was contacted by the accused about the now-cancelled Delhi Excise Policy 2021–2022.

AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh have been detained by the ED so far, in addition to the party’s head of communications, Vijay Nair, and a few businesses.

In its chargesheets, the ED had said that the AAP had spent around `45 crores on “proceeds of crime” during the Goa election campaign.

A new supplemental chargesheet is anticipated from the agency in this matter, and it is possible that the AAP may be identified as a “beneficiary” of the alleged kickbacks created by the excise policy.

The Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021–22, which granted licenses to liquor sellers, is accused of enabling cartelization and favoring some dealers who had reportedly paid bribes for it—a allegation that the AAP has always denied.

The strategy was later abandoned, and lieutenant governor of Delhi V.K. Saxena suggested that the CBI look into the matter. The ED then filed a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

Delhi BJP leader Virendra Sachdeva responded to the ED’s summons by saying, “Mr. Kejriwal has not yet received any relief on his plea against the ED’s action.” Delhi thus anticipates that he would comply with the agency’s request for information and assist with the liquor scam inquiry. Should he continue to be uncooperative,