Mr Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi Chief Minister, grabbed the attention of the press across the country when the ED (Enforcement Directorate) sent him two more summonses. The showcase notices, which included one concerning the Delhi liquor policy case and an associate relating to the fetter sale in the Delhi Jal Board, were shared by cabinet minister Atishi. The motive for calling these summonses has also been questioned because it is interesting to know its possible implications for Kejriwal’s participation in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Kejriwal has been required to appear on Monday, EOM, and Thursday, respectively, regarding the DU Jal Board and liquor policy cases. This situation resulted from twice defeating every previous summons in a legal matter, which he saw as unfair treatment. Surprisingly, a Delhi court gave him bail for not appearing in six of the eight ED summons (Moss-Edge Review, 27th Jan 2023).
Lately, a BJP leader has been pressed to appear in customer allegations. This leader placed Kejriwal as a person who was not accountable for his legal responsibilities and demanded that he take care of the items raised by the authority. This leader also attacked Kejrewal’s tendency to present himself as a victim and proficiency in evading responsibilities.
As for the timing of the summons, which came when after the announcement of dates for the Lok Sabha election, this aspect seems to be quite curious and invites debates; Atishi further doubted, assuming that the ruling party should be abusing the ED and CBI as a tool for political vendetta.
ED is currently experiencing the prosecution of the alleged scam of money laundering in the now long-dead Zenite policy for the 2021-2121 year, which is claimed to have favoured the alcohol dealers. Then, taking a volte-face, AAP has robustly repudiated these charges. Along with the case, the recent arrest of a member from the Bahujan Republican Socialist Party (BRS), K Kavitha, has added to the concerns.
The bribe money was said to have been channelled from a tender issued by the Delhi government to the electoral fund of the AAP in the Dibba Jal Board (DJB) case. To get the matter going, the EOW launched its investigation in February, which raided, among others, Kejriwal’s assistant Bibhav Kumar, AAP MP ND Gupta, former Delhi Jal Board member Shalabh Kumar, and chartered accountant Pankaj Mangal.
At the beginning of 2023, Chief Engineer Jagdish Kumar Arora, who is retired, and Anil Kumar Aggarwal, a contractor, were arrested in connection with bribery charges. As happened in the CBI’s FIR, Arora is accused of assigning a contract of ₹38 crore to NKG Infrastructure Ltd to another company that didn’t meet the technical criteria of the process.
