New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister and AAP Convener Arvind Kejriwal is not going to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday for questioning in an alleged money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy, AAP said and termed the summons 'illegal.' A fresh and fifth summon to Kejriwal was issued by ED after he skipped four earlier summonses over the last four months.
The AAP alleged that the ED is repeatedly sending notices to Kejriwal to arrest him. The AAP also alleged 'vendetta' alleging that the BJP wants to topple its government in Delhi by getting Kejriwal arrested. The AAP will not let this happen, it said.
The Delhi chief minister is, however, scheduled to take part in a protest of the AAP outside the BJP headquarters here at 11 am. Kejriwal skipped ED summonses for November 2 and December 21 in 2023 and January 3 and January 18 this year. He had called these notices 'illegal.' It is alleged that the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge repeatedly refuted by the AAP.
The policy was subsequently scrapped and Delhi Lt Governor VK Saxena recommended a Central Bureau of Investigation probe, following which the ED registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Reacting to the development, BJP leader Harish Khurana said, "Once again Arvind Kejriwal has skipped ED summon. This is the fifth time that he has skipped ED summon. Arvind Kejriwal is calling it unlawful, so the question arises if the summon is illegal then why he hasn't gone to court and got it quashed. It is just a tactic to show himself helpless..."
While Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal has took to X and tweeted, "First they looted votes in Chandigarh Mayor election. Now, people coming for a peaceful protest against this are being stopped across Delhi."
Ahead of the scheduled protest over the Chandigarh Mayor election by the Aam Aadmi Party, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kajriwal said that people arriving to protest peacefully had been stopped at various places across the national capital. "All across Delhi, they are detaining elected MLAs, councillors and volunteers who were coming to the party office. What is this going on?" posted CM Kejriwal on X.
Following the 8 votes being declared invalid after the declaration of the results of the Chandigarh Polls and winning of BJP MLA.
Delhi Minister and AAP leader Gopal Rai says, "The way BJP has been exposed in Chandigarh and the way they conspired, we are protesting against them today. Ahead of the peaceful protest, they way party MLAs and councillors are being put under house arrest shows that BJP doesn't want its real face to be exposed before the public."
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