Arvind Kejriwal to appear before CBI over Delhi excise policy 'scam'

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is set to appear before the CBI on Sunday in connection with the excise policy case and will be accompanied to the agency's office by his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann and cabinet colleagues.

Officials said the CBI may ask the AAP chief about the policy formulation process, especially of the "untraceable" file which was earlier slated to be put before the Delhi Council of Ministers.

Kejriwal is being summoned as a witness and is not an accused in the excise policy case in which his former deputy Manish Sisodia was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on February 26. Sisodia was last month arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and is in judicial custody.

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The chief minister said on Saturday that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has emerged as a ray of hope for the country and claimed that is the reason why efforts are being made to trample it.

In his first reaction after being served a notice by the CBI to appear before it at 11 am on Sunday, Kejriwal said he will be present before the probe agency.

Addressing a press conference here, he said that no other party has been targeted in the last 75 years as the AAP. He also alleged that the agencies were torturing people to extract false confessions.

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Asserting that if he was "corrupt" then no one in the world was "honest", Kejriwal also claimed that BJP leaders were demanding his arrest and that if the saffron party had "ordered" the probe agency to arrest him, it cannot refuse doing so.

Kejriwal said he will sue the CBI and ED officials for alleged perjury and filing false affidavits in courts.

Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju took a jibe at Kejriwal over his sue CBI and ED remarks, saying the AAP leader will file a case against the court if convicted.

Party sources said that besides Mann, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MPs and Delhi ministers will accompany the party supremo to the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) headquarters here.

It is alleged that the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge strongly refuted by the AAP. The policy was later scrapped.

Officials said the CBI may also quiz Kejriwal on the statements of other accused where they have indicated the manner in which policy was allegedly influenced to favour some liquor businessmen and the 'South liquor lobby'.

In addition, the agency may also seek his role in the formulation of the excise policy and his knowledge about the alleged influence being cast by the traders and 'South lobby' members, the officials said.

Kejriwal may also be asked if he was involved in the formulation of the policy before it was given approval, they said.