The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday summoned Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to appear before it on April 16 in connection with the excise policy scam case, in which his former deputy Manish Sisodia was arrested. Kejriwal has been called to appear at the CBI headquarters in the national capital at 11 am to answer queries of the probing team as a witness in the case.
News agency PTI quoted CBI sources as saying that there are allegations that money raised from tweaking the policy in favour of certain liquor dealers and the South lobby was suspected to be pumped in for election purposes by the AAP, which is under the probe as part of the money trail.
They said the process of policy formulation and influence of South lobby, besides changes in the draft stages, was in the know of the chief minister, which makes it necessary to put questions to him.
Kejriwal may also be asked about an “untraceable” file containing details of the expert committee and public comments when the policy was at a nascent stage of formulation and referral of the issue to Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Sisodia; besides his possible conversation with suspects in the case, they said.
Sources have stated that the final role of Kejriwal, whether as a witness or an accused, will be decided while filing a charge sheet in the case after considering multiple factors. As of now, he is expected to answer questions as a witness.
The agency had adopted the same strategy when Sisodia was called at the CBI headquarters where he was grilled for eight hours before being taken into custody.
The allegations revolve around the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22, which is accused of granting licences to liquor traders who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge strongly refuted by the AAP. The policy was later scrapped.
AAP’s Reaction
Reacting to the summon, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) called it a “conspiracy” and confirmed that Kejriwal will appear before the agency on Sunday. Taking to Twitter, party leader Sanjay Singh said that an “end to tyranny is certain”.
Addressing a press conference, Singh said: “Delhi chief minister had spoken about the Adani issue in Delhi Vidhan Sabha. That same day, I had told him that you will be next. Narendra Modi-led Centre is corrupt from head to toe and Kejriwal’s fight against corruption won’t stop due to such notices.”
“This notice is a conspiracy to arrest CM Kejriwal. This notice will neither be able to silence the AAP nor Kejriwal,” he said.
Meanwhile, Delhi minister and AAP leader Atishi said that no matter how many notices are issued or attempts are made to incarcerate them, the party will persist in their “fight against corruption”. “You can give us as much notice, you can send us to jail but we will keep fighting against corruption,” she said, adding, “We are not afraid of ED and CBI.”
Another AAP leader Raghav Chaddha said that Kejriwal has been causing restless nights for the BJP leadership. “Day and night only Kejriwal comes in his dreams and scares him in his sleep. This summon of CBI shows the ‘Kejriwal Phobia’ of BJP. We are not afraid of your CBI-ED…” he said in a Twitter post.
Natural for Kejriwal to be Summoned, Says BJP
BJP spokesperson Amit Malviya told CNN-News18 that it is natural for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to be summoned by the CBI in the alleged liquor scam since his cabinet member, Manish Sisodia, is already in jail in connection with the case. As the Chief Minister, Kejriwal is responsible for all the decisions taken by his cabinet, he said.
Malviya emphasised the need to let the law proceed and wait for the investigation to unfold.
Another BJP leader Kapil Mishra said, “It is no more a secret now. Cloud data, chat and other evidences are out. All of those deals happened on instructions of Kejriwal. The CBI will call you for questioning, will cross examine the claims and then you have to go to jail as well.”
‘Opposition Unity’
Responding to the AAP national convener’s summon, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) said the investigating agencies are summoning every opposition leader who questions Prime Minister Modi. The party stated this trend will continue until the 2024 general elections, and believes it is a vendetta against the opposition.
The party also said the case against BRS leader, K Kavitha, daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao in relation to the Delhi liquor scam case is “false” and that the BRS is being “targetted.”
Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) stated that it creates a strong suspicion in the minds of the people when a state’s CM is called by an investigating agency. The TMC also expressed concern that every opposition leader is being subjected to “witch hunts.”
Karnataka Congress President DK Shivakumar has criticized the BJP for using agencies like the CBI for political gains, following the summoning of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by the CBI. Shivakumar stated that political scores should not be settled through the use of such institutions and called for the BJP to refrain from such actions.
#WATCH | “BJP should not use this agency for any political settlement. You should not settle political scores by using these institutions,” says Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar on CBI summon to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal pic.twitter.com/ydgIWwvAbz— ANI (@ANI) April 14, 2023
Meanwhile, Kejirwal’s summons came a day after he accused the Enforcement Directorate (ED) of “misleading” the court with false evidence in the excise policy case.
Kejriwal has accused the ED of taking false statements by torturing people and pressuring them. He also mentioned that the accused gave a different statement in the case of Sanjay Singh, but the ED has written something else in the charge sheet. Kejriwal was responding to a question regarding the ED’s charge that his former deputy Manish Sisodia destroyed his mobile phones.
“The ED is misleading the court with false evidence, torturing people, taking false statements. There is nothing in this whole matter, the whole matter is fabricated and is based on false evidence. This is not a good thing,” he said.
The ED informed a Delhi court on Wednesday that Manish Sisodia had created false emails to portray public approval for the policy. The agency made this claim while opposing Sisodia’s bail plea before Special Judge MK Nagpal.
(With inputs from PTI)
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