The Enforcement Directorate has issued the 7th summons to the Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal, in a money laundering case linked to the Delhi excise policy. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo has been asked to appear before the central agency on Monday, February 26.

The Delhi Chief Minister skipped the previous six summonses, calling them "illegal".

While skipping the sixth summons on February 19, Kejriwal stated that the matter is now with the court and the probe agency should wait.

"The Enforcement Directorate itself approached the court. Instead of sending summons again and again, the ED should wait for the court's decision," the party said earlier.

The central probe agency had approached the Delhi court against Kejriwal citing repeated avoiding of the summonses.

The court had summoned Kejriwal to appear before it on February 17. However, he did not turn up, citing the no-confidence motion procedure in the assembly. The court granted him permission to appear physically on March14.

The earlier five summonses were issued by the probe agency on February 14, February 2, January 18, January 3, December 22, 2023 and November 2, 2023.

The Enforcement Directorate wants to record Kejriwal's statement in the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 case on issues like the formulation of policy, meetings held before it was finalised, and allegations of bribery. The agency claims that the AAP used kickbacks worth Rs 45 crore generated via the policy as part of its assembly elections campaign in Goa in 2022.

Kejriwal has been maintaining that the probe agency's actions are "illegal," adding that he is ready to cooperate but alleges that the agency's intention is to arrest him and stop him from election campaigning. The AAP also alleges that the central agency is trying to attack the party through its agencies.

Source: India Today