ED deliberating next steps, likely to issue 5th summons to Kejriwal

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal skipped his fourth summons in connection with a money laundering probe on Thursday.

With Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal skipping his fourth summons in connection with a money laundering probe stemming from the investigation into alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise police 2021-22, Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials said their case is now left in limbo, even as they are deliberating on their next steps.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal at the Excellence in Education Awards 2023, in Delhi on Thursday. Kejriwal left for a three-day tour of Goa later in the day. (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo)

People familiar with the developments said a fresh, fifth summon is likely to be issued to Kejriwal, but a call on the same is yet to be taken.

“A call is yet to be taken on the next steps. But the Delhi CM has once again disregarded our summons to join investigations,” said an officer, who didn’t want to be named.

The financial crimes probe agency has so far filed six charge sheets in the excise policy probe against 31 individuals and entities, including former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and Aam Aadmi Party’s Rajya Sabha member of parliament Sanjay Singh. Both Sisodia and Singh are currently lodged in Tihar jail.

ED, in its sixth charge sheet filed in the case on December 2, 2023, named Singh and his aide Sarvesh Mishra, and claimed that the AAP used kickbacks worth ₹45 crore generated via the excise policy as part of its assembly elections campaign in Goa in 2022.

While ED has in the past alleged that bribes generated in the policy were used to fund the Goa assembly elections campaign, this was the first time that the central agency has mentioned the amount of the purported kickbacks, and the first time that the AAP has been called a direct beneficiary.

The findings that AAP benefited directly are expected to be used by ED when it names the party in its next charge sheet.

In one of its five charge sheets, ED claimed that the excise policy was Kejriwal’s “brainchild”. Kejriwal has also been mentioned in remand papers with references to alleged meetings, commissions for private players, and the entry of political players and businesspeople from the south into Delhi’s liquor business.