Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, was called by the Enforcement Directorate on Monday to be questioned on the Delhi excise policy issue.
The summons was sent out the same day that the Supreme Court denied bail for his former deputy, Manish Sisodia, and ordered that the trial in the cases that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) were looking into against him be finished in the ensuing eight months.
Saurabh Bharadwaj, a minister in Delhi, responded to the summons by saying, “It is evident from the news that the ED of the Central Government has summoned the chief minister of Delhi that the Center’s primary goal is to somehow destroy the AAP.
In relation to the investigation into corruption and criminal conspiracy in the case, Kejriwal was questioned by the CBI for around nine hours on April 16. “They contacted me at 11 a.m. and questioned me till 8 p.m. They asked me questions in a friendly manner. Officers from the CBI have my gratitude for their kindness and hospitality. Since I had nothing to hide, I responded to every question, Kejriwal had stated.
In relation to the matter, two Aam Aadmi Party leaders—former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh—are incarcerated.
The Arvind Kejriwal administration put the new Delhi excise policy came into effect in November 2021. Following criticism of the scheme, the administration terminated it on July 31 of last year.
The CBI filed a case on August 17, 2022, regarding 15 arrested people, including Sisodia, for alleged anomalies in the policy’s execution. The AAP leader’s Delhi residence was searched by the authorities two days later.
Sisodia was interrogated by the CBI for around eight hours on October 17. Days after filing a chargesheet in the case, the CBI summoned him once more on February 18 of this year. The central agency finally took the AAP leader into custody on February 26.
