ED issues fresh summons to Delhi CM Kejriwal in money laundering case
New Delhi, Feb 27: The Enforcement Directorate has issued summons to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for the eighth time for questioning in the excise policy-linked money laundering case, official sources said on Tuesday.
Kejriwal, the national convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), has now been asked to depose at the agency's headquarters here on March 4, they said.
Kejriwal on Monday skipped the seventh summons issued to him in the case, saying he would appear before the agency if a court ordered him to do so.
A city court, approached by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) over Kejriwal skipping its summonses, has listed this matter for further hearing on March 16.
The ED, while issuing the eighth summons, rejected the contention that a fresh notice for Kejriwal's attendance was wrong as the matter was sub-judice.
The agency believes that the local court has prima facie held Kejriwal guilty of "disobeying" the earlier notices issued to him in this case, warranting the eighth summons.
Kejriwal's name has been mentioned multiple times in the charge sheets filed by the ED in the case. The agency has said that the accused were in touch with him regarding the preparation of the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22.
Kejriwal and his party have alleged that the summonses issued by the ED were "illegal".
"They want us to break the alliance. Their message basically is that we should quit the alliance," he said, claiming there were informal messages to that effect from different quarters.
AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh apart from communications in-charge of the party Vijay Nair have been arrested in this case by the ED till now.
The ED had claimed in its charge sheet that the AAP used "proceeds of crime" to the tune of about Rs 45 crore in its Goa election campaign.
The agency is also expected to file a fresh supplementary charge sheet in the case and may name the AAP as a "beneficiary" of the alleged kickbacks that were generated through the excise policy.
It is 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 Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena recommended a CBI probe following which the ED registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
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Child rape-murder: Hundreds protest on Mumbai-Bengaluru highway in Pune; traffic hit
Pune (PTI): Hundreds of people blocked the Mumbai-Bengaluru highway in Pune to protest the rape and murder of a four-year-old girl, leading to traffic disruption on the busy route for about four hours.
The girl's family members and other demonstrators placed the body on the road in the Navale Bridge area on Saturday evening and demanded stringent punishment for the 65-year-old man arrested in the case.
Several videos surfaced showing a huge traffic jam on the highway.
Later, the victim's last rites were performed at the Vaikunt crematorium here shortly after midnight amid tight police security.
The accused man, who works as a labourer and has a criminal record, allegedly lured the girl with the promise of food on Friday in the Bhor tehsil of Pune district. He then took her to a cattle enclosure where he allegedly sexually assaulted her and later killed her by hitting her with a stone, according to the police.
He was arrested based on CCTV footage from a private residence, which captured him with the child.
A case was registered against him under the relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and he has been remanded in police custody till May 7.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar on Saturday met the family of the victim, assuring them of strict action against the accused and a fast-track trial.
Describing the incident as "shocking" and a "blot on humanity", Pawar said the government stands firmly with the victim's family and will ensure justice.
She also spoke to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and sought a fast-track court trial so that the accused receives the harshest punishment.
Deputy CM Eknath Shinde directed Pune rural police to gather concrete evidence to build a watertight case and conduct the trial in a fast-track court.
Efforts should be made to ensure the accused gets the death penalty, a statement quoted Shinde as saying.
