Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is unlikely to appear before the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday as he arrived at Anandgarh in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur district today for a 10-day Vipassana meditation course.
The AAP chief will be back in the national capital only on December 30.
Kejriwal, a regular practitioner of Vipassana, had earlier practised it in Jaipur, Nagpur, and Bengaluru.
Vipassana is an ancient Indian meditation technique in which practitioners abstain from any communication, either by talking or via gestures, for an extended period to restore their mental well-being.
During this meditation 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.
The ED has summoned the chief minister on December 21 in connection with its ongoing probe into the liquor policy scam case.
The AAP supremo has been issued the summons under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
This is the second time the ED has summoned Kejriwal in the case. The chief minister had skipped earlier summons on November 2, terming the agency notice illegal.
The case pertains to the allegations that the Delhi government's policy to grant licences to liquor traders favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it.
The AAP government had implemented the policy on November 17, 2021 but scrapped it at the end of September 2022 amid allegations of corruption.
According to the investigating agencies, the profit margins of wholesalers were arbitrarily increased from 5 per cent to 12 per cent under the new policy.
The ED has mentioned the chief minister’s name multiple times in its chargesheets filed in the case. The agency claimed that the accused were in touch with the AAP leader regarding the preparation and execution of the excise policy.
Earlier, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had summoned Kejriwal in April this year in connection with the case, though he had not been named as an accused in its FIR.
