ED "likely to arrest" Kejriwal, claim AAP ministers amid summons row

NEW DELHI: Delhi ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bhardwaj, late on Wednesday, claimed citing unnamed inputs that the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) is likely to arrest Chief Minister and AAP convener, Arvind Kejriwal, on Thursday.

Kejriwal skipped the agency's summons in connection with the Delhi Excise Policy case on Wednesday. Taking to the social media platform X, AAP leader and Delhi's Law and PWD Minister, Atishi, said, "News coming in that ED is going to raid@ArvindKejriwal's residence tomorrow morning. Arrest likely."

Minutes after Atishi's post, Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj also posted on X, claiming speculations about Kejriwal's arrest by the ED.

"It is heard that tomorrow morning, ED is going to reach the house of Chief Minister Kejriwal and arrest him," Bharadwaj said in his post. These claims come after the Delhi Chief Minister skipped the third summons issued to him by the ED on Wednesday. The ED issued a third summons to CM Kejriwal on December 22 last year, in connection with the alleged Delhi liquor scam case, asking him to appear before the agency on January 3.

According to party sources, Kejriwal, in his reply to the ED, expressed his readiness to cooperate with the investigation but declined to appear on the summoned date, calling the notice "illegal." Kejriwal further questioned the timing of the notice as a move to stop him from electioneering ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections in 2024, as per the party sources.

The Delhi CM was first called by the central agency to appear on November 2, but he did not depose, alleging that the notice was "vague, motivated, and unsustainable in law."

He further alleged that the said summons appeared to be politically motivated and issued for extraneous considerations. Meanwhile, the AAP also questioned the timing of the notice just before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.