Delhi excise policy: ED issues ninth summon to Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate has issued fresh summons to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to appear for questioning on March 21 in the excise policy linked money laundering case, official sources said Sunday.

The 55-year-old national convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has been asked to depose at the central agency's office in central Delhi.

The ninth summons have been issued so that Kejriwal's statement can be recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the sources said.

The CM has repeatedly refused to appear in response to these summons, calling them illegal.

The AAP is expected to hold a press conference on this issue on Sunday.

A Delhi court on Saturday had granted bail to Kejriwal on two complaints filed by the agency against him for skipping six of the previous eight summons in this case.

The ED had moved the magisterial court seeking Kejriwal's prosecution for not attending the summonses issued to him in the case.

The agency arrested BRS leader K Kavitha in this case two days back.

Kejriwal's name has been mentioned multiple times in charge sheets filed by the ED in the excise policy case. The agency has said that the accused were in touch with Kejriwal regarding the preparation of the excise policy for 2021-22.

So far, the ED has arrested AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh, party communications in-charge Vijay Nair and some liquor businessmen in this case.

The ED had claimed in its charge sheet that the AAP used "proceeds of crime" to the tune of about Rs 45 crore in its Goa assembly polls campaign.

It is alleged that the Delhi government's excise policy 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 Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena recommended a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the irregularities in its formulation and implementation. Later, the ED registered a case under the PMLA.