The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for the eighth time for questioning in a money laundering case linked to the excise policy, official sources stated on Tuesday.
Kejriwal, the national convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party, has been instructed to appear on March 4 at the agency’s headquarters. Previously, the Enforcement Directorate had issued seven summonses to Arvind Kejriwal.
Initially, on November 2, 2023, he missed the summons, citing a scheduled roadshow alongside Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh.
The second summons was issued on November 21, but Kejriwal skipped it, explaining that he needed to participate in a 10-day Vipassana meditation course. Subsequent summonses were issued on January 3, 2024, January 18, and February 2.
Kejriwal declined all these summonses, asserting their “illegal” and “politically motivated” nature. He received the sixth summons on February 19, yet again opting to skip it, reiterating that the matter is now under judicial purview.
On Monday, Kejriwal, aged 55, skipped the seventh summons issued to him in the case, stating he would appear before the agency if a court ordered him to do so. Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court, approached by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) over Kejriwal skipping its summonses, has directed the chief minister to appear before it 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.
