Kejriwal summoned by ED on January 3 in liquor probe. This is 3rd time

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate on January 3 in connection with the liquor probe.

This is the third summons after Kejriwal skipped the first two. The third summons came on the day his Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh was denied bail as the court said that the case against him is genuine and the evidence presented showed his involvement in the alleged money laundering.

Kejriwal was summoned by the ED first on November 2. Kejriwal skipped the summons and said he had governance-related work in Delhi ahead of Diwali and was also scheduled to campaign for the party in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. ED issued a second summons asking him to be present on December 21. Kejriwal went to attend vipassana a day before and skipped the second summons too.

“The timing of your summons leaves much to desire and strengthens my belief that the summons being sent to me are not based upon any objective or rational yardstick but for extraneous considerations at the behest of political rivals who wish to silence the voice of opposition to the ruling dispensation at the Centre to create sensational news in the final few months leading up to the Parliamentary elections in early to mid-2024,” Kejriwal wrote to ED.

“On the eve of my departure for Vipassana meditation course which has been widely published and largely circulated all over the media in the country as well as officially announced, to my utter dismay and concern, I have received the subject summons,” Kejriwal added.

“Your summons appears to be a fishing and roving enquiry. In similar circumstances, where individuals are neither informed about the case details nor the capacity in which they are being summoned by the Enforcement Directorate, high courts have declared such summons of the Enforcement Directorate invalid and quashed the summons,” the reply said.

As a law-abiding, conscientious and an ordinary citizen of the country, Kejriwal has nothing to hide, he wrote. “I have life of dignity, honour and with complete transparency. As per my schedule, publicly known to all, from 20.12.2023, I would be attending the Vipassana meditation course which I have been attending annually for the last 25 years,” Kejriwal wrote.

Kejriwal was scheduled to leave for vipassana on Tuesday but deferred it for the meeting of the INDIA bloc. He left for vipassana on Wednesday at around 1.30pm.

Evidence against Sanjay Singh, Manish Sisodia’s custody extended

Manish Sisodia was arrested in February in the liquor probe case. On Friday, his judicial custody was extended till the next date of hearing on January 19, 2023.

Sanjay Singh was the second AAP leader to have been arrested in connection with the same case. On Friday, the court dismissed his bail and said the court is of prima facie view that the case against him is genuine and the evidence shows his involvement in the alleged offence of money laundering.

“There are reasonable grounds for believing that he is guilty of the alleged offence of money laundering,” the court said.

“The evidence and material is also sufficient to furnish this court reasonable grounds for believing that he is ‘guilty’ of the said offence in terms of provisions contained Under section 45 of the PMLA,” the court said.