Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s personal assistant Bibhav Kumar was called by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday in relation to the alleged liquor policy scandal. According to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), he testified before the ED, and his comments are being recorded as a result, officials told a news agency.
This occurs a few weeks after Kejriwal’s name appears in the ED’s charge sheet of the case. According to the chargesheet, Sameer Mahendru, a liquor businessman and the main suspect in the excise policy fraud, spoke with Arvind Kejriwal through video chat. According to the ED, Kejriwal advised Sameer to put his faith in Vijay Nair, the AAP’s communication coordinator.
As per the probe agency, Nair is one of the accused in the case, and he allegedly conspired with others in the Delhi liquor policy scam.
Bibhav Kumar’s questioning is related to the ED’s charges that at least 36 accused, including Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Kumar, have “destroyed or used” 170 phones to conceal evidence of “kickbacks” worth thousands of crores of rupees in the alleged scam, said a PTI report.
ED has so far filed two chargesheets in this case, and arrested nine people.
Earlier this month, the ED said the Aam Aadmi Party used the money generated from the alleged Delhi liquor scam for election campaigning in Goa in 2022.