- By Akanksha Verma
- Tue, 27 Feb 2024 02:24 PM (IST)
- Source:PTI
The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday issued eighth summons to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for questioning in a money laundering case related to the AAP government's now scrapped liquor policy. The central probe agency asked the Aam Aadmi Party convener to appear before it on March 4.
Earlier on Monday, the Delhi chief minister skipped the seventh summons, saying he will appear before the Enforcement Directorate if a court orders him to do so. Kejriwal dubbed the ED summons as a "tool" to pressure him into leaving the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA). "They want us to break the alliance. Their message basically is that we should quit the alliance," he said.
The Aam Aadmi Party has entered into a seat-sharing deal with Congress for the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi, Haryana and Gujarat. Expressing his determination to stay with the opposition alliance, Kejriwal said AAP would not break its alliance with Congress.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) approached a city over Kejriwal skipping the summonses. The court has directed the Delhi chief minister to appear before it on March 16.
Alleging that the summons are "illegal", Kejriwal said, "If the court says go, then I will go." The AAP convener sought to know whether the Union government and the ED do not trust the court and said the probe agency itself moved the court in the matter and they should now wait for its order.
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Objecting to the ED issuing summons after summons while the matter was sub-judice, Kejriwal said the agency should wait for the court order. Meanwhile, the ED rejected AAP's contention that a fresh notice to Kejriwal was wrong even if the court is hearing the matter.
AAP minister and MLAs, led by Kejriwal, visited the Rajghat on Monday to observe one year of former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia's arest in Delhi liquor policy case.
What Is Delhi Liquor Policy Case?
AAP goverment, led by Arvind Kejriwal, is facing probe in connection with the Delhi liquor sales policy introduced in the year 2021, and scrapped months later. Manish Sisodia was the head of Delhi's excise department when the policy was implemented.
A report by former Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar submitted to Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena in July 2022 set the probe in motion. The report accused Sisodia of giving favours to liquor vending licensees in lieu of commissions that were allegedly used by AAP in the Punjab Assembly elections in February.
The report claimed that Sisodia altered the excise policy without the necessary consent of the Lieutenant Governor. He was accused of wiping off Rs 144.36 crores in licence payments, that private booze dealers had to pay, in the name of the Covid-19 pandemic. By adjusting the prices of imported liquor, he gave liquor vendors unfair advantages and abolished the import pass charge of Rs 50 per case of beer, the report said.
It was alo alleged that irregularities were committed including modifications in the Excise Policy, extending undue favours to the licensees, waiver/reduction in licence fee, the extension of L-1 license without approval, among others.
