Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate for questioning in the excise policy-linked money laundering case on Monday, the day the AAP government is likely to present the budget.
The fresh summons came as the Chief Minister has been asked by a local court to appear before it on Friday on a complaint filed by the ED for not honouring the summons five times. The court had then said that Kejriwal was "legally bound" to comply.
The AAP chief was summoned November 2 and December 21 in 2023 and January 3, January 18 and February 2 this year but he refused to appear before it, claiming that the ED summons were illegal.
The summons also came as the Delhi Assembly's Budget Session is starting on Thursday and the issue is set to dominate the proceedings.
The ED had in court claimed that Kejriwal intentionally disobeyed each summons, which were issued as part of a probe into the money laundering case linked to irregularities in the now scrapped Delhi excise policy
In his letters to ED, Kejriwal has said that the agency's summons was not in consonance with law and sent for "extraneous considerations" at the behest of ruling BJP to create "sensational news" in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections.
Though not named as an accused in the chargesheet, Kejriwal's name has been mentioned multiple times. The ED had claimed that the accused were in touch with the Chief Minister regarding the preparation of the excise policy.
Former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh among others were arrested in this case by the ED.