ED "likely to arrest" Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, claim AAP ministers

Atishi and Saurabh Bhardwaj, ministers from Delhi, have alleged that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) may arrest the Delhi Chief Minister on Thursday. This accusation came after Kejriwal failed to respond to the ED's summons related to the Delhi Excise Policy case on Wednesday, as reported by ANI. On social media platform X, Delhi’s Law and PWD Minister, Atishi, commented, "Reports suggest that ED is planning to raid the house of Arvind Kejriwal tomorrow morning with a likely arrest". Saurabh Bharadwaj, the Delhi Health Minister, supported Atishi's speculation in his own post on X.

These suspicions were raised following the failure of the Delhi Chief Minister to respond to a third summons from the ED on Wednesday. The third summons was issued to Chief Minister Kejriwal on December 22nd, last year, regarding an alleged case and asked him to appear before the agency on January 3. Party insiders shared that Kejriwal had expressed his willingness to cooperate with the investigation but declined to appear on the summoned date referring to it as "illegal". Kejriwal also questioned the timing of the notice considering the upcoming 2024 parliamentary elections.

The Chief Minister was originally called by the central agency on November 2, but he didn't appear stating that the notice was vague and motivated by other factors. Concurrently, the AAP also raised questions about the timing of the summons ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Wednesday saw the Chief Minister ignore a third ED summons in relation to the Delhi excise policy case, citing upcoming Rajya Sabha elections, Republic Day preparations, and the ED's lack of disclosure and response as reasons for his non-appearance.

In response to the summons, Kejriwal wrote a letter to the ED stating his willingness to answer any enquiry from them. The AAP however believes that the summons were intended for trapping him into an arrest. Kejriwal complained that despite submitting detailed documents in response to earlier notices, the ED did not acknowledge receipt. He stated that the ED's lack of disclosure could not stand the test of law, equity, or justice.