ED Issues 5th Summon to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday issued fresh summons to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal again for questioning in the Delhi liquor policy case. This is the fifth summon to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief. He had already skipped four summons. CM Kejriwal has been asked to appear before the agency on Friday.

Kejriwal, also the national convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), has skipped four earlier summons issued by the federal agency for January 18 and January 3 and November 2 and December 21 in 2023. He had called these notices "illegal".

The ED aims to probe CM Kejriwal on the draft policy and why it was discussed in the CM's residence. 

It is alleged that the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge repeatedly refuted by the AAP. The policy was subsequently scrapped and Delhi Lt Governor V K Saxena recommended a CBI probe, following which the ED registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).