ED summons Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in liquor policy case: All you need to know

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, on November 2, to question him in connection with its ongoing probe into the Delhi excise policy case.

Kejriwal was earlier summoned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the case in April this year.

The AAP chief has been summoned in the same case in which his former Deputy Manish Sisodia and AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh have been arrested. Kejriwal has reportedly been asked to depose at the ED's Delhi office at 11 am on November 2.

Arvind Kejriwal summoned by ED in liquor policy case: All you need to know

1. Kejriwal (55) has been issued the summons under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and according to the sources, the agency will record his statement once he deposes before the investigating officer of the case in Delhi, PTI reported.

2. Hours after the ED summoned Kejriwal in the case, Delhi Minister and AAP leader Atishi accused the BJP of attempting to frame AAP leaders in "false" cases. "BJP is scared of AAP and the work being done in Punjab and Delhi by the government... Therefore, they are trying to frame AAP leaders in false cases and send them to jail. They want to finish the party...," the AAP leader told ANI.

3. 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 allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge strongly refuted by the AAP.

4. The policy was subsequently scrapped and the Delhi lieutenant governor recommended a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in its implementation, following which the ED registered a case under the PMLA.

5. Arvind Kejriwal was summoned by ED hours after the Supreme Court dismissed Manish Sisodia's bail plea in the money laundering case, stating that a money trail of Rs 338 crore was "tentatively established" in the case. Manish Sisodia is the prime accused in the case.

6. AAP leader and Delhi minister Saurabh Bhardwaj, while responding to the recent summons issued by the ED, alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) want to crush AAP at any cost. "They (BJP) want to arrest Arvind Kejriwal in a fake case and crush AAP," Bhardwaj said.

7. Meanwhile, a Delhi court last week extended till November 10 the judicial custody of AAP leader Sanjay Singh, arrested in the money laundering case related to the alleged Delhi excise scam.

8. Calling for his resignation, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday alleged that Chief Minister Kejriwal is the "mastermind and kingpin" of the "scam".

Delhi BJP Chief Virendra Sachdeva told ANI that they have been maintaining from the start that CM Arvind Kejriwal is the kingpin of the scam.

9. BJP leader RP Singh said, "Arvind Kejriwal should resign now because he is the kingpin of the complete liquor scam... There are officers who have said on record that every policy, every change in the policy was dictated by Arvind Kejriwal."

"He drafted the policy benefitting the liquor mafia...," Singh told ANI.

10. The ED has mentioned Kejriwal's name multiple times in its chargesheets filed in the case and said the accused were in touch with him regarding the preparation of the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22.

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