News Brief
Fourth Time's The Charm? Kejriwal Again Summoned By ED For Questioning In Delhi Liquor Policy Case After He Skipped Previous Three Summons
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has send a fresh summons to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for questioning in the liquor policy case.
Kejriwal has been asked by the agency to appear before it on 18 January.
This comes after the Delhi CM skipped 3 January questioning by ED, saying that the summons issued by the financial probe agency were illegal and its only aim is to arrest him.
Kejriwal, who is also the chief of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief, had refused to appear before the ED on two earlier summons for 2 November and 21 December as well.
The AAP chief had been questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with the case in April, but had not been made an accused by the agency, NDTV reported.
Kejriwal maintains that the summons he received are "motivated", expressing confusion as to whether he is being summoned as a witness or a suspect in the case.
His party has suggested that this is a strategy to prevent him from participating in the upcoming national election campaign.
With three of its leaders -- Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh and Satyendra Jain -- behind the bars, AAP has long been anticipating the eventuality and has discussed the possible courses of action. They even want Kejriwal to remain the Chief Minister and do his job from jail.
The CBI contends that liquor companies were involved in framing the excise policy, which would have brought them a 12 per cent profit.
A liquor lobby it dubbed the "South Group" had paid kickbacks, part of which was routed to public servants. The Enforcement Directorate alleged laundering of the kickbacks.
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