New Delhi [India], April 16 : On Sunday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will appear before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for questioning in connection with the case involving alleged irregularities in the Union Territory government’s excise policy formulation and implementation. On Sunday morning, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann will accompany Kejriwal to the CBI office. During his visit to the CBI office, Kejriwal will be accompanied by his cabinet colleagues and all Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MPs.
The CBI summoned Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for questioning in connection with the liquor policy case on Sunday, in a major development in the Delhi excise policy case. According to sources, the Aam Aadmi Party will protest in the national capital on Sunday during the questioning of party chief Kejriwal at the CBI office.
“If Arvind Kejriwal is corrupt, there is no one in the world who is honest,” Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Saturday, a day after the CBI summoned him for questioning in the excise policy case.During a press conference, he stated, “They (CBI) have called me, and I will definitely go tomorrow. There is no one in the world who is honest if Arvind Kejriwal is corrupt… If the BJP has directed the CBI to arrest me, the CBI will undoubtedly comply.”Later, on Twitter, Kejriwal stated that appropriate cases will be filed against officials of the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate for “perjury and producing false evidence in courts.”
“We will file appropriate cases in courts against CBI and ED officials for perjury and producing false evidence,” he said. Kejriwal also claimed that he knew he would be called in by the CBI the day he spoke out against corruption in the Delhi assembly.
Former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, a key aide to Kejriwal, is in jail for alleged excise fraud. The ED and CBI arrested Sisodia as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged irregularities in the formulation and implementation of Delhi’s excise policy.
On February 26, the CBI arrested Sisodia. After hours of questioning at Tihar Jail, the ED arrested him on March 9. According to the ED and the CBI, irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy, undue favours were extended to licence holders, the licence fee was waived or reduced, and the L-1 licence was extended without the approval of the competent authority.
The beneficiaries diverted “illegal” gains to the accused officials and made false entries in their account books to avoid detection, according to the investigation agencies.