Arvind Kejriwal Summoned By CBI In Delhi Liquor Policy Case On Sunday

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been summoned by the CBI for questioning over alleged corruption in the capital’s now-scrapped alcohol sales policy that led to the arrest of his deputy Manish Sisodia in February, sources have told NDTV.

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The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has asked Mr Kejriwal to appear for questioning on Sunday, sources said, making it the first instance in recent memory where a Chief Minister has been summoned by the central agency in an investigation.

Sources in the agency said they have uncovered fresh evidence and have grounds to question the Chief Minister now. They said the date was set for Sunday so that it does not disrupt the Chief Minister’s work.

Arvind Kejriwal is yet to comment on the CBI’s move but in the past has said, “There is no such thing as a liquor scam”. The AAP has dismissed the charges as “vendetta” and efforts by the BJP, which governs at the centre, to target one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s most vocal critics.

“Not a single leader of the AAP will be intimidated by these motivated charges. Many of our ministers, leaders and members have been targeted in the past. Our fight against the most corrupt government of PM Modi will go on,” senior party leader Sanjay Singh said.

The CBI is probing allegations that the liquor policy implemented by the Delhi government last year, which ended government control over the sale of liquor in the capital, gave undue advantages to private retailers.

Alleging the involvement of the “highest levels” of Mr Kejriwal’s government in the swindle, the agency has claimed crores in kickbacks were paid for favours in the policy and funnelled into his Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) election campaign in Goa last year.

Manish Sisodia’s arrest in February was the highest-profile arrest in the case so far. The following month, he was arrested while still in jail by the country’s financial crime-fighting agency Enforcement Directorate, which is probing allegations of money laundering in the case.

The summons to Mr Kejriwal, whose political career began with the 2011 anti-corruption movement that swept the nation, comes as his 10-year-old party, recently upgraded to the status of a national outfit, tries to position itself as one of the main alternatives to PM Modi’s BJP.

They also follow an intensifying effort by opposition parties to band together ahead of next year’s elections, alleging the widespread abuse of central investigating agencies.

Among the first opposition parties to come out in Mr Kejriwal’s support was Bihar’s Rashtriya Janata Dal, whose leader Manoj Jha taunted the centre, saying it should put all opposition leaders in a gas chamber and finish them off “Nazi-style”.