Delhi Excise Policy case: ED "likely to arrest" Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, claim AAP ministers

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Pic/PTI

Delhi ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bhardwaj, late on Wednesday, claimed citing unnamed inputs that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is likely to arrest Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday. Kejriwal skipped the agency's summons in connection with the Delhi Excise Policy case on Wednesday, reported news agency ANI.

Taking to the social media platform X, AAP leader and Delhi's Law and PWD Minister, Atishi, said, "News coming in that ED is going to raid@ArvindKejriwal's residence tomorrow morning. Arrest likely."

Minutes after Atishi's post, Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj also posted on X, claiming speculations about Kejriwal's arrest by the ED.

"It is heard that tomorrow morning, ED is going to reach the house of Chief Minister Kejriwal and arrest him," Bharadwaj said in his post.

These claims come after the Delhi Chief Minister skipped the third summons issued to him by the ED on Wednesday. The ED issued a third summons to CM Kejriwal on December 22 last year, in connection with the alleged Delhi liquor scam case, asking him to appear before the agency on January 3.

According to party sources, Kejriwal, in his reply to the ED, expressed his readiness to cooperate with the investigation but declined to appear on the summoned date, calling the notice "illegal." Kejriwal further questioned the timing of the notice as a move to stop him from electioneering ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections in 2024, as per the party sources, reported ANI.

The Delhi CM was first called by the central agency to appear on November 2, but he did not depose, alleging that the notice was "vague, motivated, and unsustainable in law." He further alleged that the said summons appeared to be politically motivated and issued for extraneous considerations.

Meanwhile, the AAP also questioned the timing of the notice just before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

On Wednesday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal skipped the third summons by the 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 Enforcement Directorate, the AAP leader also said that he would be "happy to answer" any questionnaire sent by it. Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party (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."

(With inputs from ANI and PTI)