Delhi liquor scam: Arvind Kejriwal challenges all 9 ED summonses in High Court

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal approached the Delhi High Court on 19th March challenging all the nine summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate in the excise policy case. Kejriwal called these summonses “unconstitutional and arbitrary”.

The bench will take up the matter on March 20th. Kejriwal received the ninth summons on March 17th, asking him to appear for questioning on March 21 in the excise policy-linked money laundering case. Kejriwal has so far skipped eight summonses by the agency.

The agency said it has conducted searches at 245 locations across the country since the registration of a case in 2022 and has arrested 15 persons, including AAP leaders Sisodia and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh and some liquor businessmen.

It has filed a total of six charge sheets in this case till now and has attached assets worth over Rs 128 crore.

The ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) have alleged that the Delhi government's excise policy to grant licences to liquor traders allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge strongly refuted by the AAP.

The policy was subsequently scrapped and Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena recommended a CBI probe into the irregularities in its formulation and implementation. Later, the ED registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

(With PTI inputs)

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