Will sue CBI, ED officials over falsities, says Arvind Kejriwal

NEW DELHI: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said he will appear before the CBI in the excise policy case and slammed the BJP leaders for demanding his arrest. He said, "If Kejriwal is corrupt, then there is no one honest in this world."

The AAP supremo also said he will sue the CBI and ED officials for alleged perjury and filing false affidavits in courts.

The CBI has summoned the AAP leader in connection with the now-scrapped excise policy case on Sunday. He has been asked to be present at the agency's headquarters at 11 am to answer queries from the investigating team, the officials said.

According to sources, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, Delhi Cabinet ministers and AAP MPs will be accompanying Mr Kejriwal to CBI Headquarters.

Addressing a press conference, he claimed that the BJP leaders were demanding his arrest and that if the party had "ordered" the probe agency to arrest him, it cannot refuse to do so. The Delhi CM also accused the Central probe agencies of filing false affidavits in courts.

Mr Kejriwal alleged that the "No 2 and No 3" (Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain) ministers of his government have been targetted in order to reach him, adding that he knew he will be next in line to be summoned by the CBI since the day he spoke against corruption in the Delhi Assembly.

The agencies have falsely claimed that 14 phones were destroyed, lying to the courts in affidavits, torturing suspects to extract falsified confessions and employing thuggish threats like "will see how your daughter gets to college tomorrow", he claimed.

The chief minister also said that despite months of investigation and scores of arrests, including Mr Sisodia, the agencies have not found a single penny of the ill-gotten wealth that they claim was amassed from the so-called liquor scam.

"When they found nothing in raids, they said the money had been funnelled into our Goa election campaign. Where is the proof of this? All our payments were made with cheques. Show me a single rupee of the '100 crores you claim we got," Mr Kejriwal said.

If I say, without proof, that I paid Prime Minister Narendra Modi '1,000 crores on September 17 at 7 pm, will you arrest him?" the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief asked, announcing he will sue the Central agencies for perjury and falsifying evidence.

The same policy, which they call corrupt, was introduced in Punjab and has resulted in a 50 per cent increase in revenue. It was a game-changing and transparent policy," Mr Kejriwal said, adding that he will appear for questioning on Sunday as asked.

Union law minister Kiren Rijiju, reacting to Mr Kejriwal's threat to file cases against the CBI and ED officials, asked whether Mr Kejriwal will also file a case against the court if the court convicts him. Everyone must believe in the rule of law, the law minister said.

"Forgot to mention that you will file case against Honble court also if it convicts you. Let law takes it own course and we must believe in rule of law," Mr Rijiju tweeted.

Tagging the AAP convenor's tweet, Mr Rijiju wrote that corruption has never been an issue for Kejriwal.

Union I&B minister Anurag Thakur also slammed the Delhi CM over his comment that he is an "honest man".

BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said the AAP supremo should submit himself for the lie detector test to make things clear. He alleged that Mr Kejriwal is the "kingpin" in the liquor scam case.

Lending support to the Delhi CM, Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal said that he had predicted action against Mr Kejriwal in an article and hit out at the BJP over the CBI summoning Mr Kejriwal. He alleged that the ruling party wants to establish an "Opposition-free India" and is seeking to "malign" the image of leaders who stand up against it.