Delhi Liquor Excise Policy Case: ED Files Complaint Against CM Arvind Kejriwal For Skipping Summons For Fifth Time

A complaint has been filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister of Delhi after he skipped the ED's summons for the fifth time.

The ED has submitted its case before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Divya Malhotra, who is set to hear the matter on 7 February as per a report by The Indian Express.

The summons are related to the now-scrapped excise policy of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.

Kejriwal had previously contested the legality of the summons, asserting that he has not been named as an accused in the case.

The ED had earlier arrested three senior AAP leaders — former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, and AAP communications in-charge Vijay Nair — in connection with the same case.

Both Sisodia and Singh were arrested on the same day they were questioned.

On its part, AAP has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of attempting to arrest Kejriwal and destabilise the Delhi government.

The party also questioned the ED's authority to summon the Chief Minister. Kejriwal, who was first summoned in October 2023 and since then has cited various reasons for his non-appearance, including governance-related work in Delhi, a Vipassana session, Rajya Sabha elections, Republic Day celebrations, and a pre-scheduled program in Goa.

The latest summons, issued on Wednesday (1 February), was for Kejriwal to appear for questioning on Friday.

In response to the ED's action, AAP's national spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar labelled the investigation as "politically motivated" and stated that the party would address it in court.

On the other hand, BJP's national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla referred to Kejriwal as an "bhagoda" and stated, “When he has skipped summons from the agency five times, making all kinds of lame excuses, any agency will pursue the course of law and will approach the court of law for the next legal action.”