In the impending judicial decree at 4 pm on Wednesday, the Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi is poised to render its decision on a grievance lodged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against the Chief Executive of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal. The charge pertains to his persistent non-compliance with summonses in an alleged money laundering affair connected to the liquor excise policy.
The ED invoked the intervention of the Delhi court after Kejriwal evaded its summons for the fifth instance on February 2. The formal complaint found its way to additional chief metropolitan magistrate Divya Malhotra, who calendared the matter for further deliberation on Wednesday.
Kejriwal, dismissing the fifth ED summons, decried its legality and asserted that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) harbors intentions to destabilize his government in Delhi by orchestrating his arrest.
The chief minister’s initial summons by the ED transpired on November 2, a summons he circumvented, contending that the notice was nebulous, motivated, and legally unsustainable. Instead, he jetted off to Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh to address a political gathering. Subsequently, the investigative agency summoned him for interrogation on December 21, but Kejriwal opted for a 10-day Vipassana meditation retreat at a facility in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur district. This year, he faced summonses on three occasions—January 3, January 18, and February 2. In the preceding year, he grappled with summonses twice, on November 2 and December 21.
What unfolds in the Delhi excise policy case?
The Delhi government, under the stewardship of Arvind Kejriwal, introduced an excise policy in 2021-22, with the aim of rejuvenating the city’s ailing liquor trade by substituting the sales-volume-centric system with a license fee for traders. Nevertheless, it met its demise after Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena called for a CBI inquiry, citing alleged irregularities.
According to the CBI’s indictment, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) received kickbacks amounting to ₹100 crore to finalize the policy. A substantial portion of these funds purportedly found its way into the party’s election campaign in Goa. The chargesheet also implicates a certain ‘South Group’ in the alleged malfeasance.
Thus far, the ED has detained key AAP figures—former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh—in connection to the case, both of whom have been in custody since the preceding year.