Arvind Kejriwal replies to ED, says summons politically motivated, illegal

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Pic/AFP

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has sent his reply to the ED summons, calling them illegal and politically motivated, the AAP leader said on Thursday, reported news agency PTI.

Kejriwal was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate for questioning in the excise policy-linked money laundering case on Thursday. However, he left for an undisclosed location for a 10-day Vipassana meditation course on Wednesday.

"I am ready to accept every legal summons. This summons of ED is also illegal like the previous ones. ED's summons are politically motivated. They should be withdrawn. I lived my life with honesty and transparency. I have nothing to hide," CM Arvind Kejriwal said in a statement on Thursday, reported news agency ANI.

Kejriwal was scheduled to leave for the Vipassana course on Tuesday but could not do so as he was busy with the INDIA bloc meeting. He left at around 1.30 pm on Wednesday for the pre-scheduled meditation course, officials said.

The Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday questioned the timing of the summons, saying the party's lawyers are studying the notice and "legally correct" steps will be taken, reported ANI.

They said Kejriwal's Vipassana session was "pre-scheduled" and the information was in the public domain.

"Everyone knows the chief minister is leaving for Vipassana on December 19. He regularly goes for this meditation course. It's a pre-scheduled and pre-announced plan," AAP MP Raghav Chadha had said, reported ANI.

Meanwhile, AAP leader and Delhi Minister Atishi launched a scathing attack on the BJP-led Centre over the summons issued to the CM, saying that the saffron party uses central probe agencies to intimidate and silence leaders of the Opposition, reported ANI.

She asserted that the AAP won't bow down to such threats by the ED and the CBI.

Hitting out at the BJP-led Centre, Atishi said it fears Kejriwal's model of governance which is why leaders of the ruling AAP were being hounded by the central agencies and put in jail.

"It is clear the BJP are scared of the Aam Aadmi Party and the model of governance of our leader Arvind Kejriwal, which is why the leaders of our party are being thrown in jail one by one. The BJP are using agencies at their disposal to scare us," Atishi told ANI.

The Delhi CM was first called by the federal agency to appear for questioning on November 2, but he skipped the summons claiming it to be "vague, motivated and unsustainable in law", reported ANI.

"The said summons is not clear as to the capacity in which I am being summoned i.e. as a witness or a suspect in the above-mentioned case. Please recall the said summons, which is to say the least is vague and motivated and I am advised, unsustainable in law," Kejriwal stated in his letter to Jogendar, assistant director, ED, after being summoned earlier, reported ANI.

Kejriwal was earlier summoned by the CBI in April this year, in connection with the same case.

However, the CM was not named as an accused in the FIR filed by the CBI on August 17, last year.

In February 2023, Kejriwal's Deputy Manish Sisodia was arrested by the CBI for alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi's new excise policy.

(With inputs from PTI and ANI)