Arvind Kejriwal has said there is “no such thing as a liquor scam”.
New Delhi:
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been summoned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for questioning over alleged corruption in the capital’s now-scrapped alcohol sales policy that led to the arrest of his deputy Manish Sisodia in February, sources have told NDTV.
The CBI has asked Mr Kejriwal to appear for questioning on Sunday, sources said, making it the first instance in recent memory where a Chief Minister has been summoned by the central agency in an investigation.
Sources in the agency said they have uncovered fresh evidence and have grounds to question the Chief Minister now.
Arvind Kejriwal is yet to comment on the CBI’s move but in the past has said, “There is no such thing as a liquor scam”. The AAP has dismissed the charges as “vendetta” and efforts by the BJP, which governs at the centre, to target one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s most vocal critics.
“Not a single leader of the AAP will be intimidated by these motivated charges. Many ministers, leaders and members of the party have been targeted in the past. Our fight against corruption, against PM Modi will go on,” senior party leader Sanjay Singh said.
The CBI is probing allegations that the liquor policy implemented by the Delhi government last year, which ended government control over the sale of liquor in the capital, gave undue advantages to private retailers.
Alleging the involvement of the “highest levels” of Mr Kejriwal’s government in the swindle, the agency has claimed crores in kickbacks were paid for favours in the policy and funnelled into his Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) election campaign in Goa last year.
Manish Sisodia’s arrest in February was the highest-profile arrest in the case so far. The following month, he was arrested while still in jail by the country’s financial crime-fighting agency Enforcement Directorate, which is probing allegations of money laundering in the case.
The summons to Mr Kejriwal comes as his party tries to pitch itself as the main alternative to the BJP as well as efforts by opposition parties to band together ahead of next year’s elections, alleging the widespread abuse of central investigating agencies.
