ED Issues 8th Summon to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi Excise Policy Case

In the ongoing excise policy money laundering case, the Enforcement Directorate(ED) has issued its 8th summon to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to appear before on March 4. He has ignored the previous seven summonses terming them illegal and politically motivated.

On Monday, Kejriwal decided to skip the seventh summons, stating that he would only appear before the ED if the court mandated his presence. As a response, the Enforcement Directorate has taken the matter to a Delhi court, raising concerns over Kejriwal’s repeated avoidance of summonses in recent months.

Delhi CM claimed that the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) wanted to break its alliances for the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi, Haryana, Gujrat, and Goa.

He also stated “The matter is in court and the next hearing is scheduled for March 16. Instead of sending these summons, the ED should wait for the court’s order. We will not leave the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) and the central government should not pressure us this way.”

Several Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) ministers commented on the matter and said that ED should wait for the court’s decision.

AAP leader Atishi said “The Chief Minister did not approach the court, ED did. Why are they not waiting for the court’s order? It is clear that this is not about legality or illegality — they just want to harass us. If ED cared for the legality, it would wait for the due process of law to unfold”

Similarly, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Health Minister of Delhi also said the same thing that ED should wait for the court verdict.

What is the Delhi Excise Policy Case?

On November 17, 2021, the Delhi Government implemented a new excise policy but discarded it at the end of September 2022 amid allegations of corruption. The policy was aimed at increasing government revenues and also ending the liquor mafia’s influence and black marketing. Under the new policy, open bidding was conducted for 849 liquor vends which were awarded to private companies. The city was divided into 32 zones, each allotted a maximum of 27 vends. There were no individual licences and the bidding was done zone-by-zone.

The probe agency CBI has claimed that the new policy gave undue advantages to private retailers and corruption in the matter goes to the “highest levels” in Kejriwal’s government.

However, the AAP government has denied the allegations and said that the new policy would have led to an increase in the city government’s revenue.

Three prominent AAP Ministers namely Delhi’s former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain, and Sanjay Singh were arrested in the case that is being investigated by ED.