NEW DELHI: In its third summons to Delhi CM Arvind
Kejriwal
, the
Enforcement Directorate
has asked him to join investigations in the
liquor scam case
on January 3, soon after he is back from his Vipassana retreat.
The ED had last asked him to appear for questioning on December 21 in connection with its probe into alleged
money laundering
in the excise scam. This was after he had refused to appear on November 2, citing his preoccupation with election campaigns in five states.
The last summons was issued a day before Kejriwal was to leave for a 10-day Vipassana retreat.
The decision to call Kejriwal marked a shift from the earlier thinking, as reported by TOI, at the agency not to call him and file the chargesheet after interrogating AAP's national treasurer N D Gupta. The AAP treasurer appeared before the agency on December 9.
Sources attributed the change of stance to a "rethink" prompted by the opinion that Kejriwal's questioning should be the logical corollary of ED's stand in the Supreme Court that it was also examining the role of AAP.
Two of Kejriwal's senior colleagues - former deputy CM Manish Sisodia and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh - are in custody for allegedly receiving bribes from the liquor cartel that is accused of having paid Rs 100 crore to APP and its leaders.
AAP alleged that this was a "completely fake case to target AAP leadership". "BJP has not been able to produce a single evidence in the courts. It's just a political vendetta to counter the growing popularity of AAP across the country," it said.
Since the CM left for Vipassana on 19th, we cannot confirm if another summons has been received, it added.
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