The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday issued fresh summons to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a money laundering case linked to the excise policy scam. He has been asked to appear before the agency on February 19.
The Aam Aadmi Party leader had earlier skipped five summons issued by the probe agency.
Last week, a Delhi court directed Kejriwal to appear before it on February 17 after the ED filed a complaint against him for the non-compliance of its summons.
The agency had argued that the chief minister is a public servant, and he cannot ignore the orders of a government agency.
Kejriwal has either ignored or not responded to the previous ED notices issued on February 2, January 31, January 19, December 21, and November 2, citing various reasons.
The AAP leader had earlier written a letter to the ED, terming the summonses "illegal and politically motivated". He alleged they were aimed at preventing him from campaigning in elections.
The summons to Kejriwal pertains to questioning in the alleged Delhi excise policy case and recording his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
It is alleged that the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021–22 to grant licences to liquor traders allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge repeatedly refuted by the AAP.
The policy was subsequently scrapped, and the Delhi lieutenant governor recommended a CBI probe, following which the ED registered a case under the PMLA.
The CBI had summoned Kejriwal in April last year in connection with the case, though he had not been named as an accused in its FIR.
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