Arvind Kejriwal skips 5th ED summons, AAP says it’s PM Modi’s plan to arrest the Delhi CM

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has decided to skip the 5th summon by the Enforcement Directorate today in connection with the liquor policy case probe. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief said that these repeated summons were an attempt to arrest him. 

The latest summon was issued by the agency on Wednesday after he skipped the earlier four summons issued in the past three months by the ED for November 2 and December 21 in 2023 and January 2 and 18 this year. 

Kejriwal has maintained that these summons are illegal. The party, reiterating the same, said that it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s aim to arrest Kejriwal. They have accused the prime minister of aiming to topple the Delhi government by arresting him. 

"We will never let this happen," AAP said in a statement.

The Enforcement Directorate have 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).

Meanwhile, AAP MLAs and volunteers are planning a protest outside the BJP headquarters against the “cheating” allegations in the Chandigarh mayoral polls. Kejriwal has alleged that AAP MLAs and volunteers were being stopped or detained. 

Security has been stepped-up in Central Delhi with police barricading several roads leading to the Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg and deploying additional personnel in view of the Aam Aadmi Party's demonstration as well as a protest by the BJP against "corruption" in the Kejriwal government.

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