Excise case probe: ED summons Kejriwal for questioning on Nov 2

This is the first time Kejriwal has been asked by the federal financial crime agency to join the probe in the high-profile case.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) asked Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to appear before it on November 2 in connection with its money laundering probe in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy, people familiar with the development said on Monday.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. (PTI)

This is the first time Kejriwal has been asked by the federal financial crime agency to join the financial probe in the high-profile case that is under investigation since August last year.

On April 16, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) questioned Kejriwal in a parallel probe it is conducting into allegations of irregularities in the excise policy. Kejriwal and the AAP have repeatedly denied the allegations, calling them politically motivated.

“BJP is scared of AAP...As a part of this conspiracy, ED has summoned Arvind Kejriwal on November 2...it is a conspiracy to file a false case and arrest. I want to tell the BJP, we are not afraid of going to jail. We’ll keep working for the common man,” said minister Atishi in a video statement on X.

Delhi minister Saurabh Bhardwaj said that the BJP-led government’s “only aim” is to finish the AAP. “For this, they are leaving no stone unturned to frame Kejriwal in fake case, send him to jail and finish the AAP,” he said.

Senior AAP leader and Delhi Dialogue and Development Commission vice chairman Jasmine Shah said, “The entire country knows that BJP’s sole remaining goal is to arrest Arvind Kejriwal by any means and to put an end to AAP one way or another.”

The development came on a day the Supreme Court denied bail to former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia in the same case, finding that at least one charge of windfall gains of ₹338 crore made by liquor wholesalers was tentatively established. ED arrested senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh earlier this month.

In one of its charge sheets filed in the case – ED has filed five charge sheets so far – the financial crimes agency had said that the excise policy was Kejriwal’s “brainchild”.

The chief minister’s name was also mentioned in the past in court documents, including charge sheets and remand papers, in reference to alleged meetings, fixing commissions for private players, and the entry of political players and businesspeople from the south into Delhi’s liquor business.

For instance, ED’s charge sheet filed this January said that Kejriwal told businessman Sameer Mahendru — during a video call arranged by AAP member Vijay Nair — that “Vijay (Nair) is his boy and that he should trust him”.

“Nair arranged a meeting of the owner of Indo Spirits, Sameer Mahendru, with Arvind Kejriwal, and when that didn’t materialise, he arranged a video call through FaceTime on his phone for Mahendru and Kejriwal, where Kejriwal said to Mahendru that Vijay (Nair) is his boy and that Mahendru should trust him and carry on with him,” said the ED charge sheet, citing Mahendru’s statement, recorded on November 15 last year.

Kejriwal is not named in the first information report (FIR) filed on August 17 last year.

He was neither a part of any GoM (group of ministers) to decide the contours of excise policy, nor did he sign any document, but the federal agency alleges that the decision to increase the profit margin from 5% to 12% — a key allegation — was not possible without the approval of a top authority in the Delhi government.

ED said that in a December 7, 2022 statement, Sisodia’s then secretary C Arvind said that he was informed of the decision to carve out 12% commission for wholesale private entities at Kejriwal’s residence in March, 2021.

There were no discussions about handing the wholesale liquor business to private players in meetings held by the GoM – which comprised Sisodia, Satyendar Jain and Kailash Gahlot — before mid-March 2021, C Arvind apparently told ED.

“In mid-March, 2021, C Arvind was called by Sisodia to Kejriwal’s residence (where former health minister of Delhi Satyendar Jain was also present) and Sisodia handed over a document to C Arvind, which was a draft GoM report proposing that the wholesale (business) should go to private entities and asked him to prepare the draft GoM report based on the said document. He said that it was the first time that he saw this proposal as the same was never discussed in any GoM meetings,” the ED charge sheet said.

The policy was rolled out for the 2021-22 financial year in November 2021, marking the exit of the government from retail sales of alcohol and allowing private companies to bid for licenses. The objective, the Delhi government said, was to improve the buying experience for citizens by allowing market competition to raise standards.

But the policy was scrapped when Delhi’s lieutenant governor VK Saxena asked for an investigation, citing a report by the chief secretary who alleged irregularities. The AAP and the Capital’s elected government have rejected the charges, alleging it to be a ploy by the BJP-controlled Union government to target its rival.

Agencies allege that Kejriwal, Sisodia and Nair are linked to a conglomerate known as the South Group, allegedly comprising politicians and businesspeople, which got at least nine retail zones in Delhi’s liquor business, after allegedly bribing AAP leaders ₹100 crore.