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Excise policy case: AAP leader Kailash Gahlot joins ED probe after summons
49-year-old Kailash Gehlot is the AAP MLA from Delhi's Najafgarh.
New Delhi: Days after chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's arrest, the Enforcement Directorate summoned Delhi minister and AAP leader Kailash Gahlot for questioning in connection with a money-laundering probe linked to the liquor policy case. He later appeared before the agency.
49-year-old Kailash Gehlot is the AAP MLA from Delhi's Najafgarh. He is the minister for transport, home and law in the Delhi government.
Sources told PTI that Kailash Gahlot has been asked to appear for questioning in the case and get his statement recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
BJP leader Virendra Sachdeva reacted to the summons.
“Another Delhi government Minister has been summoned (by ED) now. The truth will come forth to the public. (Delhi CM) Arvind Kejriwal and his party’s corrupt face is now in front of everyone," he said.
AAP leader Dilip Kumar Pandey accused the BJP government of "dictatorship".
"It would be very shocking (for us) if ED doesn't issue any notice. Now, the whole nation is uniting against the dictatorship of the BJP. We have called upon the entire nation to protest against the hooliganism of the BJP and against the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal," he said.
AAP leaders Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh and Arvind Kejriwal are in jail over similar charges in the case.
Kailash Gahlot, Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj are the only prominent AAP leaders who are not in jail.
The Enforcement Directorate arrested Kejriwal on March 21, hours after the Delhi high court refused to protect him from arrest over the excise policy.
The action was taken after he ignored nine summonses sent by the Enforcement Directorate.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been demanding Arvind Kejriwal's resignation as the Delhi chief minister on moral grounds.
What Arvind Kejriwal said in court on Thursday
Arvind Kejriwal is currently under the Enforcement Directorate's custody till April 1.
Earlier this week, he spoke in a Delhi court and alleged that a ‘smokescreen' of AAP being corrupt was being created in front of the nation.
"I am named by 4 witnesses in excise policy case, are 4 statements enough to arrest a sitting CM," he told the court.
He claimed that people, who turned approver in the case, were being forced to change their statements.
Arvind Kejriwal also said that the money AAP allegedly accepted "doesn't exist".
Sunita Kejriwal launches WhatsApp campaign
Kejriwal's wife Sunita Kejriwal, in a video message on Friday, announced a WhatsApp campaign.
"We are starting a drive from today - Kejriwal ko aashirvaad. You can send your blessings and prayers to Kejriwal on this number,” she said.
The BJP, in a sharp attack, said that Sunita Kejriwal had been behaving like Rabri Devi, Lalu Yadav's wife.
Rabri Devi had become the chief minister of Bihar in the 1990s when her husband was jailed in a corruption case.
With inputs from PTI, ANI
