‘Liquor scam never happened, Sisodia falsely accused,’ says Arvind Kejriwal slamming ED, CBI

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday slammed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), and said there is no liquor policy scam. He said Manish Sisodia was falsely accused in the case, and the probe agencies lied in their affidavit.

This happened a day after the CBI called in Kejriwal concerning the Delhi liquor policy case. He was asked to appear as a witness on Sunday at 11 am at the agency's main office.

Kejriwal said the ED and CBI misled the court and lied under oath to frame Sisodia. He added that appropriate cases will be filed against the two agencies for "perjury and producing false evidence". The CBI arrested Sisodia in February in connection with the case.

He said the two central agencies are "catching hold of someone or the other every day and are being threatened, tortured mentally and physically", forcing them to name Delhi ministers in connection with the case.

The Delhi CM said people were beaten by the ED, and Arun Pillai and Sameer Mahendu were "tortured" to take names. "This is their investigation. I wanna ask the prime minister, what is happening?" said Kejriwal during a press conference.

He also slammed the ED's statement that there were Rs 100 crore kickbacks from the now-scrapped liquor policy and said, "Where is this 100 crore? Raids have been conducted everywhere, Manish Sisodia's bed was torn open, yet, not even a single piece of jewellery has been recovered."

Denying the ED's charge that the money was used for election campaigning in Goa, he said, "They have raided every vendor which we employed. They took the statement of every vendor and haven't been able to find anything yet."

Addressing Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kejriwal said, "Modiji, if Kejriwal is corrupt, no one is honest." Kejriwal said former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik alleged that some chief ministers under PM Modi are corrupt. "But the chief minister don't keep the money to themselves. They send it to the higher authorities. From there, the money gets invested into the companies of their friends," said Kejriwal, citing Malik.

Kejriwal then slammed PM Modi and said, "For someone who is so corrupted, corruption is not an issue. So why are they after the AAP?" The AAP supremo said that "no party has been targeted like this in 75 years as much as his party has been".

"They arrested my number 2, my number 3. Now they're coming for me," said Kejriwal, referring to Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain.

Answering a question about whether his arrest is likely, the Delhi CM said, "BJP has been holding press conferences since yesterday saying I will be arrested. Now if the BJP has given them the order, who is CBI to say no?"

CBI summons Kejriwal

The CBI's summons was issued on Sunday, almost two months after Manish Sisodia, Kejriwal's former deputy, was detained in connection with the investigation on February 26. After eight hours of interrogation, Sisodia was arrested.

AAP has called the summons for Kejriwal a "conspiracy" and said the central government is exerting pressure after it got a national party status. AAP leader Atishi called the summons "BJP's formula to eliminate its opponents".

Kejriwal will likely be questioned on the Enforcement Directorate's charge that AAP used the money generated from the alleged scam for election campaigning in Goa, said a PTI report, citing agency sources. Other things that the AAP supremo might be questioned on include an "untraceable" file containing details of the expert committee and public comments when the policy was at a nascent stage of formulation and his possible conversation with suspects in the case.

According to the CBI, the expert committee formed under the then Excise Commissioner Ravi Dhawan submitted its report suggesting changes in the policy on October 13, 2020. The recommendation was then put in the public domain in December of that year.

The probe agency said when the report, along with comments from the public, was presented before a three-member GoM, it was not taken up for discussion. The file remains untraceable since then, it added.

Kejriwal knew about the process of policy formulation and the influence of the South lobby and also the changes in the draft stages, which made it necessary to question him, the sources told PTI.

(With PTI inputs)