AAP supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has ignored the third summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Delhi Excise scam case, saying he is busy with preparations for the Rajya Sabha elections and Republic Day. . In a letter to the investigating agency, Kejriwal told the ED that he has asked the ED to clarify the nature and scope of the inquiry and the nature of the investigation. Kejriwal has also asked the agency to respond to previous letters when he had raised legal objections to the summons. He has accused the ED of being non-transparent and arbitrary in the current case. He said that he is ready to answer any questionnaire if the agency asks for any information or documents from him. In his letter, he said that he is persisting in this process till Rajya Sabha elections as AAP is ready to win three seats from Delhi. He said that he is also busy in planning and preparations for many programs and events related to the Republic Day on January 26. Kejriwal said that the ED has not given any response to the requests made by him. Kejriwal said, “He is aware of several cases when the ED clarified or answered questions or concerns raised by a person who may have been issued a summons under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA). But in my case, you have refused to even acknowledge the receipt of the submissions made in response to the summons issued to me.” He reiterated his firm commitment to cooperate in any inquiry or investigation towards the rule of law. Kejriwal said that however the ED’s silence confirms their apprehension about certain vested interests and extraneous and corrupt ideas for any objective, rational or fair investigation. The AAP leader alleged that the news of the summons reached the media before him due to which he had to face a media trial. He said that ED’s insistence is tantamount to playing the role of judge, jury and executioner at the same time which is not acceptable in the country under the rule of law.
Summons are being sent under conspiracy before elections: AAP
New Delhi (Patter Prarek): Senior AAP leader and Cabinet Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj has said that the summons issued by the ED to the party’s national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal are motivated by politics. He said that these summons are being sent as part of a conspiracy before the elections so that Kejriwal can be kept away from the election campaign by putting him in jail. Bhardwaj said during the press conference here, “The ED is trying to arrest the leaders of all the opposition parties in one or the other case. Big cases are coming up against BJP leaders every day but ED and CBI are not interrogating them. After joining the BJP, corruption cases are handed over to the fire. He gave examples of Suvendu Adhikari, Hemant Biswa Sarma, Pema Khandu, Narayan Rane, Chhagan Bhujbal, Ajit Pawar, Praful Patel etc. He said that so far neither the ED nor the central government has clarified in what capacity they are sending the summons to Kejriwal. The minister said that the ED has not been able to present any evidence against former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in the court and he will soon be proved innocent and released. He said that this is why the central government somehow wants to implicate Kejriwal in this matter.
