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CBI summons Arvind Kejriwal for questioning on April 16 in Delhi excise case
Kejriwal has been asked to be present at the CBI office on Sunday at 11am as a witness in the excise policy case.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has been summoned by the CBI on Sunday (April 16) for questioning in the Delhi excise policy case. The summons comes as AAP leader and former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia is in jail in connection with the same case and the investigative agencies have made several arrests. Kejriwal has also received a summon from the Goa Police regarding a case of an alleged defacement of public property for which he will have to be present for questioning on April 27. This is the first time that the agency has summoned the chief minister in the case, though the BJP has been claiming that Kejriwal was the mastermind behind the alleged scam.
Terming the CBI summons as a conspiracy to arrest Kejriwal, AAP MP Sanjay Singh said, “I'd like to tell the PM - you and your Govt are covered in corruption from head to toe and Arvind Kejriwal's fight will not stop with this CBI summon. The conspiracy hatched by you to arrest, jail and take action against Arvind Kejriwal on 16th April will not stifle his voice.”
“The day Kejriwal in Delhi Assembly questioned PM Modi's 'friend', I told him that the next number will be his,” Sanjay Singh said. Kejriwal will visit the CBI office as per the summons, AAP said.
As Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party was officially recognised as a national party by the Election Commission, Kejriwal said all AAP leaders must be prepared to go to jail. Kejriwal's response to CBI summons is awaited while at an event on Friday, the Delhi chief minister said: "There are several anti-national forces in the county that do not want the country to progress. All these people sent Manish Sisodia to jail. Those who sent Sisodia to jail are the enemies of the country."
On February 26, Manish Sisodia was arrested by the CBI after hours of investigation in the alleged scam over Delhi excise policy which was scrapped after Delhi L-G VK Saxena recommended a CBI inquiry into the alleged irregularities.
Allegations against AAP include receiving kickbacks in exchange for benefits in liquor vending.
There is a money laundering angle in the case and after the CBI, the ED arrested Sisodia for the money laundering case involved in the liquor policy. According to allegations, a South Group comprising BRS leader K Kavitha and several other prominent political leaders gave ₹100 crore to AAP for getting ‘undue benefits’ in the Delhi liquor policy. Kavitha has already been interrogated in the case.
'Delivery of 15 kg ghee'
Alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekar has recently alleged that Kejriwal referred to ₹15 crore to be received from the South Group as 15kg ghee. "The chat will clearly show and confirm your (Kejriwal) nexus with the 'South Group' and leader of the BRS, who is under investigation in Liquor Gate. Also, the chat will show how the Leader of BRS instructs the delivery of the 15 Crores @ 15 Kg ghee to an associate AP @ Arun Pillai, who kept the boxes of cash in a black Range Rover Sport with an MLC sticker on the front windshield parked inside the BRS, Headquarter," Sukesh Chandrasekhar stated in a press statement.
