NEW DELHI: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday skipped for the third time the summons issued by the ED in the Delhi excise policy case, with the AAP alleging that the repeated notices were part of a conspiracy to arrest him to stop him from campaigning in the Lok Sabha polls. The BJP claimed that Mr Kejriwal was “shaking in fear” because he knows he is the “kingpin” and does not want the truth to come out over the alleged scam.
Mr Kejriwal accused the ED of being “opaque and arbitrary” and asked the probe agency if it was issuing summons to tarnish his reputation. In a letter to the ED, he said: “Every time, before the summons reaches me, it is already there in the media. This raises questions whether the purpose of the summons is to do any legitimate inquiry or tarnish my reputation.”
Mr Kejriwal, in his letter to the ED, said he was busy in the run-up to the Rajya Sabha elections and was ready to answer any questionnaire from it. He also asked the ED to respond to his earlier letters where he sought clarification on the “real intent, ambit, nature, sweep and scope of the purported inquiry/investigation for which I am being called”.
Mr Kejriwal also questioned the ED’s silence on his response to the probe agency raising legal objections over the summons being issued to him. “Your obstinacy tantamounts to assuming the role of judge, jury, and executioner at the same time, which is not acceptable in our country governed by the rule of law,” he added.
Reacting sharply after the Delhi CM skipped the third summons and sent a written reply calling the notice “illegal”, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said: “Outright dishonest and sinister Arvind Kejriwal is shaking in fear and making one after another lame excuse to skip the ED summons.”
“It won't be wrong to say that Kejriwal is afraid today because he knows that his arrest is imminent, he is aware that he is the kingpin and has no answers (to the ED's questions). That's why he is trying to evade the process of law,” Mr Bhatia told reporters at the party headquarters.
The BJP leader said it would have never happened in the history of Independent India that someone “ordered” a probe agency to withdraw its summons. “But a corrupt and sinister Arvind Kejriwal tells ED to withdraw its summons. Mr Arvind Kejriwal, you are not above the law,” he charged, saying that it is the right of the probe agencies to take action against corruption “as per evidence”.
Mr Bhatia said that if Mr Kejriwal felt that the ED had issued summons to him out of any alleged “political vendetta”, he should have approached the court seeking relief. He said: “Why didn’t he approach the court so far if the ED summons are politically motivated. He is not able to muster courage (to approach the court) because he knows the truth that he is the kingpin of the liquor scam.” He added: “Such dramas will not help because Kejriwal knows that the handcuffs are coming closer to him.”
AAP leader and Delhi minister Atishi, however, called the ED summons a “political” vendetta and said that the ED has not responded to Mr Kejriwal's repeated written requests seeking clarity on why he was being called for questioning.
“Arvind Kejriwal has repeatedly asked the ED to tell in what capacity is he being summoned. He has also asked the ED to send all the concerned inquiries in the form of a questionnaire, which will be answered duly,” she said, adding that the AAP was not afraid of “such summons”. “The ED and the CBI have become a political tool for the BJP to attack the Opposition leaders,” she added.
Corroborating Ms Atishi's views, Delhi minister and AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj questioned the timing of the ED summons. “The ED has still not answered in what capacity is he (Kejriwal) being summoned -- as a witness or an accused,” Mr Bharadwaj said, addressing a press conference. “The entire excise policy case is political and an attempt to stop Kejriwal from campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls. The BJP-led Centre has hatched a conspiracy to get him arrested,” he added.
The first summons by the ED was issued to Mr Kejriwal in October, to appear for questioning on November 2. He had skipped questioning and gone to Madhya Pradesh for a roadshow ahead of the Assembly elections in the state. At the time, he had also called the summons politically motivated and the inquiry a “fishing and roving” exercise.
The next summons was sent to him to appear for questioning on December 21. Mr Kejriwal was supposed to leave Delhi for a Vipassana meditation session that day. In a letter to the ED, he said the summons was “not based upon any objective or rational yardstick” and called them pure “propaganda”.
The CBI and the ED are investigating the now-scrapped Delhi government excise policy for 2021-22, which is alleged to have benefited certain liquor dealers. Delhi lieutenant-governor V.K. Saxena had recommended a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in the policy after receiving a report from the Delhi government's chief secretary. Mr Kejriwal has already been questioned by the CBI for nine hours in April in connection with the case. AAP leader and former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia was arrested by the CBI in February this year.
An individual can ignore an ED summons three times. Since Mr Kejriwal has now exhausted the tally, the ED can now seek a non-bailable warrant, compelling his appearance before a court. Failure to comply with an NBW may lead to his arrest and subsequent court proceedings. Mr Kejriwal has at least two legal avenues available to him. He can move to court to challenge the summons, asserting his rights and seeking clarity on the allegations. He can also opt for anticipatory bail, a legal mechanism to safeguard against arrest while an investigation is underway.
