A day after he attended the Opposition INDIA alliance meeting, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Wednesday left for a Vipassana meditation retreat and is likely to skip the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summons in the Delhi excise policy case. Earlier this week, the investigating agency had called Kejriwal for questioning on Thursday. According to AAP sources, Kejriwal will not go for the ED questioning. “The CM has left for Vipassana. A response indicating his unavailability is likely to be sent to the agency. His departure was pre-scheduled,” said a senior party leader. Kejriwal arrived for the 10-day course in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur Wednesday. During this retreat, Kejriwal will refrain from participating in any official duties and will adhere to the centre’s regulations, which include abstaining from the use of mobile phones, internet, television, or newspapers. Another AAP member said, “We will file a written response to the ED tomorrow. As per rules, it will be sent in the morning.” When Kejriwal got the summons, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak had said the Delhi CM had to go for the pre-scheduled meditation session and that a legal view was being taken on the summons. Meanwhile, the BJP sharpened its attack on AAP and said the way Kejriwal is running away and evading the summons proves he has admitted his involvement in the liquor scam. “It seems Kejriwal knows the investigations done by ED have established he is the main brain behind the liquor scam and beneficiary of it. Therefore, he is trying to linger on the investigation as much as possible. but he should know that Delhiites very well understand the Kejriwal government is corrupted and it will reflect in both the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls,” said Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva. This is the second summons issued to the Aam Aadmi Party chief by the ED in the excise policy case. The first one was issued in October, asking him to appear for questioning on November 2. He, however, did not appear before the ED and instead wrote a letter to the agency’s assistant director, calling the summons politically motivated. He then left the city to lead a road show in Madhya Pradesh as part of the Assembly election campaign. Both the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and ED have registered separate cases in connection with the now-scrapped excise policy for 2021-22, which allegedly favoured certain dealers in return for bribes. Kejriwal was called for questioning by the CBI in April.
