Excise policy case fake, bogus: AAP after ED summons Arvind Kejriwal

The Aam Aadmi Party Monday dubbed the excise policy case fake and bogus after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate for questioning on December 21 in a related money laundering case.

Talking to reporters, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak said their lawyers are studying the notice.

"Anybody who questions Prime Minister Narendra Modi gets suspended or arrested. Modi fears and hates Arvind Kejriwal. Modiji is most scared by Kejriwal's politics and his Delhi model of governance. This is a bogus and fake case," he told reporters.

Kejriwal is scheduled to go to an undisclosed place to attend a 10-day Vipassana meditation course from Tuesday. "Our lawyers are studying the notice and we will see what has to be done," he added.

The Enforcement Directorate has issued a fresh summons to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for questioning on December 21 in the excise policy-linked money laundering case, officials said Monday.
 

He was first called by the federal agency to appear on November 2, but he did not depose alleging that the notice was "vague, motivated and unsustainable in law".

The summonses to Kejriwal, also the national convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), pertain to questioning in the alleged Delhi excise policy case and for recording his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the officials said.

He has to appear at the ED headquarters here on December 21, they said.
 

The development comes days after Delhi government officials said Kejriwal will leave for a 10-day Vipassana meditation course at an undisclosed location from December 19.
 

AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh are among those arrested in this case by the ED and the agency is expected to file a supplementary charge sheet in the case soon.
 

After the first summons, the AAP had alleged that Kejriwal would be arrested as part of the BJP's plan to target top INDIA bloc leaders ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and the ED notice was an attempt to finish the party that is in power in Delhi and Punjab.