Aam Aadmi Party convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate for questioning on December 21, has reportedly left for a 10-day 'vipassana' (meditation) camp.
The ED summon pertains to the excise policy-linked money laundering case, for which his party colleagues Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain have been jailed. Jain is currently out on bail.
Kejriwal was first called by the ED to appear on November 2, but skipped the summons alleging that the notice was "vague, motivated and unsustainable in law".
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 AAP. The policy was subsequently scrapped and the Delhi lieutenant governor recommended a CBI probe, following which the ED registered a case under the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act).
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Delhi government officials had on Saturday said that Kejriwal will leave for a 10-day Vipassana meditation course at an undisclosed location on December 19.
Kejriwal's party earlier this week dubbed the excise policy case fake and bogus. Talking to reporters, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak said their lawyers are studying the notice.
"Anybody who questions Prime Minister Narendra Modi gets suspended or arrested. Modi fears and hates Arvind Kejriwal. Modiji is most scared by Kejriwal's politics and his Delhi model of governance. This is a bogus and fake case," he told reporters.
