Excise policy case: Delhi CM Kejriwal skips ED interrogation; AAP calls summons ‘illegal’

The AAP reiterated that ED’s intention was to arrest Kejriwal and that the BJP wants to stop him from campaigning in the Lok Sabha elections.

The party also asked why notices were being sent right before the polls.

The first summons by ED was issued to Kejriwal in October, to appear for questioning on November 2.

He had skipped questioning and gone to Madhya Pradesh for a road show ahead of the Assembly elections in the state. At the time, he had also called the summons politically motivated and the inquiry a “fishing and roving” exercise.

The next summons was sent to him to appear for questioning on December 21. CM Kejriwal was supposed to leave Delhi for a Vipassana meditation session that day. In the letter to ED, he said the summons was “not based upon any objective or rational yardstick” and called them pure “propaganda”.

The chief minister was, in April last year, questioned by CBI in relation to the case.

Three senior AAP leaders — former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh and AAP communications in-charge Vijay Nair — have already been arrested by ED in the case.

Both Sisodia and Singh were arrested the same day they were questioned. AAP, while calling the case against them a bogus, has alleged that the ED now wants to arrest Kejriwal in the same manner.

According to legal experts, if CM Kejriwal does not appear for questioning the third time, the agency can continue to issue notice till he complies. The agency can move an application before a court and ask for a non-bailable warrant against him or investigators can show up at his house and question him there.