Kejriwal skips ED summons, AAP alleges bid to arrest

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday skipped the third summons by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the Delhi excise policy case and cited Rajya Sabha polls, Republic Day preparations and the probe agency's 'non-disclosure and non-response approach' as reasons for not appearing before it.

In a letter addressed to the ED, the Aam Aadmi Party leader also said that he would be 'happy to answer' any questionnaire sent by it.

Meanwhile, the AAP claimed that the summonses were sent with the intention to arrest him.

Asserting that the ED has refused to even acknowledge the receipt of his detailed submissions made in response to earlier notices to him, Kejriwal said, 'As a premier investigating agency of the country, the 'non-disclosure and non-response approach' adopted by you cannot sustain the test of law, equity or justice.'

'Your obstinacy tantamounts to assuming the role of judge, jury and executioner at the same time which is not acceptable in our country governed by the rule of law,' the chief minister said in his reply to the summons.

The ED summons is 'completely politically motivated' to keep Arvind Kejriwal away from the Lok Sabha election 2024, the party alleged.

Kejriwal, in his reply to the Assistant Director, Directorate of Enforcement, also mentioned the two previous summons issued by the ED on October 30 which asked him to appear for questioning on November 2 and the December 18 summons, asking him to appear on December 21.

The third summons asked him to appear on Wednesday.

The AAP national convenor had earlier refused to appear before the federal agency, calling the notices 'illegal' and 'politically motivated'.

He asked the agency to respond to his earlier letters where he sought clarification on the 'real intent, ambit, nature, sweep and scope of the purported inquiry/investigation for which I am being called'.

Launching a sharp attack against Kejriwal, the Bharatiya Janata Party said every 'corrupt leader' will be 'punished' for their misdeeds under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rule.

Party national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said, "Gone are the days when corrupt leaders used to rule over the honest citizenry of the country. The only place for the corrupt leaders is behind bars and it is our firm resolve that every corrupt leader will be punished as per law."

In his letter, Kejriwal said the election to three Rajya Sabha seats from Delhi will be held on January 19 and 'being the National Convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party, I am held up in the process and run up to these critical elections'.

'Being the Chief Minister of Delhi, I am also quite occupied in planning and preparations for several programmes and functions for the Republic Day i.e., 26th January 2024,' he said.

The AAP leader said he 'would be happy to respond to any questionnaire' if the agency seeks any information or documents, which are in his knowledge or possession.

'In my earlier responses and now again, I reiterate my firm commitment to the rule of law and my unflinching undertaking to render any co-operation or assistance in any inquiry or investigations that may be as per law, fair, just and expedient,' Kejriwal said.

'However, as stated above, your silence confirms my apprehensions about certain vested interests and extraneous as well as malafide considerations prevailing over any objective, rational, fair or impartial inquiry or investigations,' he said.

'Your silence on the critical aspects leads me to infer that you are maintaining unwarranted secrecy and are being opaque and arbitrary in the present matter,' the Delhi chief minister said.

'It is a matter of concern that despite my comprehensive response(s) bringing to your notice critical dimensions and legal objections involved in issuing summons to me to appear 'in person' in your purported exercise of powers under Section 50 of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), you have chosen not to respond,' Kejriwal said in the reply.

He said that he knew about several cases where the ED has given a detailed explanation or response to any of the queries raised or apprehensions nursed by a person who may have been issued summons under Section 50 of the PMLA.

'But in my case, you have refused to even acknowledge the receipt of the detailed submissions made in response to the summons issued to me,' he said.

Calling the summons a 'political' vendetta, AAP leader and Delhi minister Atishi said the ED has not responded to Kejriwal's repeated written requests seeking clarity on why he was being called for questioning.

"Arvind Kejriwal has repeatedly asked the ED to tell in what capacity is he being summoned. He has also asked the ED to send all the concerned inquiries in the form of a questionnaire which will be answered duly," she said, adding that the AAP is not afraid of 'such summons'.

"The ED and the CBI have become a political tool for the BJP to attack the opposition leaders," she said.

AAP's Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak said that Arvind Kejriwal is neither an accused nor a witness in this case, adding that the legal procedures of the case are already underway, and the ED has summoned him (Arvind Kejriwal) after one and a half years.

Former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh are in judicial custody following their arrest in the Delhi excise policy-related money laundering probe.

After he was issued the second summons in December, the chief minister left on his pre-announced programme of a 10-day 'Vipassana' meditation course and returned on December 30.