Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has once again been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the liquor policy scam case. This marks the sixth instance of the ED summoning the Delhi CM in relation to this case.
Kejriwal has been asked to appear before the agency at its headquarters in the national capital. Earlier on February 7, a Delhi court directed Kejriwal to attend a hearing on February 17 in response to an ED complaint regarding his failure to appear for summons related to an excise policy case.
He has consistently disregarded the summons issued by the probe agency on February 2nd, January 18, January 3, November 2, and December 22, dismissing them as "illegal and politically motivated."
In the latest development, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Divya Malhotra noted that Kejriwal had "purportedly failed" to appear before the investigating agency, thus summoning him for the offence under Section 174 of IPC (non-attendance in obedience to an order from a public servant).
The ED, in its complaint, alleged that Kejriwal intentionally avoided obeying the summons and continued to provide "lame excuses." It emphasized that such actions by a high-ranking public functionary could set a wrong example for the common man.
What Is The Case?
The Delhi government had implemented the new excise policy on November 17, 2021, but scrapped it at the end of September 2022 amid allegations of corruption.
According to the investigating agencies, the profit margin of wholesalers was increased from five per cent to 12 per cent under the new policy.
The probe agencies have alleged that the new policy resulted in cartelisation and those ineligible for liquor licences were favoured for monetary benefits. However, the AAP-led Delhi government has denied any wrongdoing and said the new policy would have led to an increase in the city government's revenue.
AAP leader and former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, party's Sanjay Singh, and Satyendar Jain are the biggest arrests in the case being probed by ED.
