Delhi Court Summons CM Kejriwal Over Liquor Scam Case

A Delhi court has summoned Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on February 17 after the AAP chief skipped five notices from the Enforcement Directorate, asking him to appear for questioning in the liquor excise policy scam case.

Due to Mr. Kejriwal's non-compliance, the central probe agency last week filed a new complaint against him. It stated that he could not disobey a government agency's commands as a public servant.

Last February 2, the leader of the Aam Aadmi Party turned down the Enforcement Directorate's fifth call.

Mr Kejriwal also ignored the January 19 summons, claiming that the notifications from the agency, which is accused of acting on directives from the BJP-led central to target competitors ahead of the Lok Sabha poll, were illegal. He also ignored summons on November 2, December 21, and January 31.

He did not answer to the first because he was campaigning for the Madhya Pradesh election, and he disregarded the others due to prior obligations, including a 10-day meditation retreat.

The party has condemned the ED's efforts as "politically motivated" and alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "sole aim... is to arrest Arvind Kejriwal and topple the Delhi government".

In April of last year, the Central Bureau of Investigation questioned Mr Kejriwal in this case for nine hours. So far, he has not been accused. "The CBI asked 56 inquiries, but everything was phony. I'm confident they don't have a single piece of evidence," he remarked.

However, two prominent AAP members have been arrested, including former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia. Mr Sisodia was arrested in February of last year, and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh in October.

The lawsuit involves claims that the AAP government's modified alcohol sales policy enabled it to acquire crores in kickbacks from cartels, which were then used to fund election expenses in Goa and other states.

Specifically, both the ED and the CBI have claimed that the strategy encouraged cartelization and favoured specific dealers who paid bribes for liquor sales licenses.

The AAP has firmly denied all claims. The Delhi government recorded a 27% gain in income from the scheme, totaling Rs 8,900 crore in revenue. The party has also accused the BJP of using the central agency to target them.