• Source:JND
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Days after the Enforcement Directorate arrested Arvind Kejriwal in connection with a money-laundering case linked to the now-scrapped excise policy, the central financial probe agency summoned Delhi minister Kailash Gahlot for questioning on Saturday in the same case. Gahlot, a 49-year-old Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Najafgarh is the minister of law, transport and the home in the Delhi government, which is led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is currently in ED's custody.

Gahlot appeared for questioning in the case to get his statement recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The AAP leader is expected to be questioned with regard to the formulation of the policy as he was part of the Group of Ministers (GoM) that included former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and former minister of urban development Satyendar Jain, on the preparation and implementation of the new liquor scheme for 2021-22.

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In its chargesheet, the agency had referenced Gahlot's name in relation to AAP communications chief Vijay Nair, who was arrested earlier in the case and was said to have resided in the government bungalow assigned to Gahlot, who "ironically" is a resident of southwest Delhi's Najafgarh. The ED had stated that it has asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate this practice of allowing a public officer to lend out a government residence to another person, calling it a "criminal breach of trust".

AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh are also in judicial custody after being arrested by the ED in the same case earlier. The party leaders have repeatedly denied the charges of wrongdoing, with Kejriwal alleging that the case was built by the BJP-led Centre to create a "smokescreen" that the AAP is a corrupt party.

(With Agency Inputs)