ED summons Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal for fourth time in excise policy case

Digital Desk: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal received a fourth summons from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday, requesting a questioning on the alleged Delhi excise policy case. 

On January 18, he has been requested to appear before the central investigative agency, according to sources. The summons was issued on January 3, following the Chief Minister of Delhi's third refusal to appear before the ED. In relation to the suspected Delhi liquor scam case, the ED sent CM Kejriwal a third summons on December 22 of last year, requesting that he appear before the agency on January 3.

The Delhi Chief Minister had been summoned by the Enforcement Department (ED) on December 18 in connection with a case involving the excise policy, asking him to appear before the central agency for questioning on December 21.

When the government agency first requested that the Delhi Chief Minister appear on November 2, he refused to appear, claiming that the notice was "vague, motivated, and unsustainable in law."

Kejriwal responded to the ED stating that he was willing to assist with the probe but declined to appear on the requested date, citing the third summons from the investigating agency as "illegal."

Kejriwal also questioned the agency about why it hadn't replied to his previous responses on the agency's probe into the nature of the summons that he had received. "As a premier investigating agency, the non-disclosure and non-response approach adopted by you cannot sustain the test of law, equity, or justice," the Delhi CM wrote in his written response to the ED. Your intransigence amounts to taking on the roles of judge, jury, and executioner simultaneously, which is unacceptable in a nation where the rule of law is upheld."

In April of this year, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) also called the Chief Minister of Delhi on the matter. 

On August 17, last year, the CBI filed its first information report (FIR), although Kejriwal was not listed as an accused party. Manish Sisodia, the deputy of Arvind Kejriwal, was detained by the CBI in February 2023 on suspicion of irregularities in the formulation and execution of Delhi's recently canceled excise policy. 

The opposition accused the government of being dishonest, leading to the withdrawal of the policy.