Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is unlikely to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday, the sources in the party said. Recently, AAP convenor was summoned for questioning in a money laundering case linked to the Delhi excise policy on February 2. Kejriwal's questioning by ED is coming amid protests over Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren's arrest, who subsequently arrested.
According to the sources, If Kejriwal does not go to the ED office, then the probe agency may issue a harsh-worded notice. This means that in the new notice, ED would ask Kejriwal to give the date and time for questioning, they added.
Kejriwal, who skipped four earlier summonses issued by the federal agency over the last four months, got ED's summon for the fifth time on Wednesday.
However, AAP remained tight-lipped about whether the Delhi CM will appear before the probe agency, sources in the party said that he is likely to skip the summons this time too.
The AAP has maintained that its legal team is studying the summons issued to Kejriwal in connection with the excise policy linked money laundering case.
Kejriwal is scheduled to participate in a protest along with his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann outside the BJP headquarters on Friday against the alleged cheating in Chandigarh mayoral polls.
On Tuesday, in a setback to the Congress and the AAP -- both I.N.D.I.A bloc members -- the BJP swept the Chandigarh mayoral polls. The AAP-Congress combine alleged that the presiding officer had tampered with the ballot papers.
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 VK Saxena recommended a Central Bureau of Investigation probe, following which the ED registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
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