Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday skipped the third summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Delhi excise policy case. In a letter sent to the ED, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) alleged that Kejriwal was ready to cooperate in the investigation but the agency's notice was illegal.
"Their intention is to arrest Arvind Kejriwal. They want to stop him from the election campaign," the AAP alleged in the letter. "Why has the notice been sent right before elections? The notice is an attempt to stop Kejriwal from campaigning in elections," the party alleged.
Kejriwal was summoned on Wednesday for questioning by the ED in connection with an excise policy-linked money laundering case. This was the third ED notice to Kejriwal after he refused to appear before the federal agency on two earlier summonses for November 2 and December 21. Earlier too, Kejirwal had called the summons "vague, motivated and unsustainable in law."
On Kejriwal's decision, Congress leader Udit Raj said the investigative agencies were putting pressure on Opposition leaders. AAP is part of the Opposition's INDIA bloc.
"The ED is carrying out raids at the associates of Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren. ED notices were sent to former Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel right before the elections and false allegations were put on him. Arvind Kejriwal is also a part of the opposition alliance. It is true that these agencies are not doing their work but putting pressure on the opposition leaders," Raj told ANI.
Meanwhile, the BJP alleged that Kejriwal skipped the summons because he had something to hide. "Once again Arvind Kejriwal has skipped the ED summons. He is absconding like a criminal because there is something to hide. The courts have not given bail to Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh, and the courts have established that there is a money trail. Despite all this they are playing the same victim card," BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla alleged.
