Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal skipped the fourth summonses by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the excise scam case on Thursday, terming them ‘illegal’, ‘politically motivated’ and ‘unsubstantiated in law’.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) sources said the chief minister has sent yet another written response to the agency. Sources also said the BJP’s intention is to arrest Kejriwal and stall his campaigning in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. They asked that when ED has written that Kejriwal is not an accused, “why is he being summoned and why should be arrested?”
The party also said when corrupt leaders join BJP, charges against them are dropped and claimed that its leaders do not indulge in corruption and will not join the BJP.
In what can be seen as a snub to the agency, the Delhi CM was at the Thyagaraj Stadium from around 11.55am on Thursday, attending an awards ceremony that honoured excellence of differently able students. AAP education minister Atishi was also present along with many AAP MLAs such as BS Joon, Madan Lal, Shiv Charan Goel, Rajesh Gupta, SK Bagga and BJP MLA Mohan Singh Bisht.
After the awards ceremony, the chief minister said: “ED has sent me the fourth summons. In that, they had said that you can appear on the 18th or 19th. These four notices that have been sent to me are illegal in the eyes of the law. They are invalid. Whenever ED has sent such general, non-specific notices, the courts have quashed them and declared them invalid and illegal. Why is this notice illegal? I have written on the same and sent to the ED many a times. However ED is not responding to the same. This is a technical issue.”
He added: “These notices are being sent to me because of a political conspiracy. The investigations have been on for the past two years. In these two years, they did not find anything. Many courts have asked them again and again — what have you recovered? Gold? Land documents? Cash? They did not find anything. These are false allegations. They are pressuring people to make false statements.”
The chief minister said investigations are going on for the past two years. “However, barely two months ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, why am I being summoned? BJP is claiming that they will arrest Kejriwal. How does the BJP know that they will arrest me? It is because the BJP is running the ED. So, why will they arrest me ahead of Lok Sabha elections? Because they do not want that I should campaign in the Lok Sabha elections. The whole purpose of these summons is to arrest me and stop me from campaigning in the elections. That is their only purpose. So, I have sent them a reply today and let’s see what happens later.”
The chief minister is scheduled to board a flight in the afternoon for Goa. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is in Delhi since Wednesday. The two leaders will spend three days beginning Thursday overseeing election preparations in Goa.
On January 3, the chief minister had sent a letter to ED, saying he is willing to cooperate with investigations but the summons are illegal and with the intent to arrest him and stall AAP’s Lok Sabha campaign.
Kejriwal had also said he was busy with preparations for the Rajya Sabha elections, which incidentally have just ended, as well as the upcoming Republic Day. The chief minister had raised questions over ED’s ‘non-disclosure, no response’ approach, saying the agency had not even acknowledged the receipt of his earlier submissions.
Many other political leaders like Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and BRS leader K Kavitha have also ignored summonses, with Soren ignoring summons for a staggering eight times in a row. Now, all eyes are on the response of the Enforcement Directorate.
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