Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will not appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for questioning on Thursday. Instead, the AAP convenor will head to Madhya Pradesh for election campaigning.
He was scheduled to appear before the agency for questioning in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam on Thursday. However, AAP had refused to confirm whether or not Kejriwal would make an appearance.
Announcing his decision to not appear before the investigating agency, Kejriwal also questioned the legality of the summons issued to him. "The said summons does not specify whether I am being summoned as an individual or in my official capacity as Chief Minister of Delhi or as National Convenor of AAP and appears to be in the nature of a fishing and roving inquiry," Mr Kejriwal said in the two-page letter to the ED.
"The said summons appear to be motivated and issued for extraneous considerations. Simultaneous to the summons, in the afternoon of 30.10.2023, BJP leaders started making statements that soon I would be summoned and arrested, by the evening of that day, I received your summons. It is thus apparent that the said summons was leaked to select BJP leaders to malign my image and reputation and has been issued at the behest of the ruling party at the Centre," he wrote in the letter.
"The summon notice is illegal and politically motivated. The notice was sent at the behest of the BJP," Kejriwal said.
He also explained his inability to appear before the Enforcement Directorate citing elections in five states. "Being the National Convenor and a star campaigner of the Aam Aadmi Party, a National Party, which is contesting elections, I am required to travel for campaigning and to provide political guidance to my field workers of Aam Aadmi Party.”
Kejriwal also pointed out that he was the chief minister of Delhi and had "governance and official commitments, for which my presence is required". "In view of the above, please recall the said summons, which is to say the least, is vague and motivated and I am advised, unsustainable in law," he added.
Meanwhile, sources with the ED told PTI that the agency is examining Kejriwal's reply. The ED could also issue a fresh date for Kejriwal as the Supreme Court has recently taken note of the prosecution's assurance that the trial in the case will be concluded within the next 6-8 months.
Meanwhile, the ED sleuths conducted raids at the premises of Delhi cabinet minister and AAP leader Raaj Kumar Anand and some others as part of a money laundering probe on Thursday morning.
The AAP has condemned the raids, calling it a bid by the BJP to silence opposition leaders ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
In a video message, AAP leader and cabinet minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said even during the British reign, police would go to court to see permission for conducting raids. "But today ED decides to conduct raids on its own. This is a conspiracy to silence the voices of opposition. This is how the BJP can win 2024 Lok Sabha polls because otherwise, it is decided that are not coming back after the polls," he said.