Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said that the Enforcement Directorate has “found nothing” on him and that the summonses are “illegal” after he skipped the third summons issued against him on Wednesday.
Amid claims by his party of his possible arrest by the ED today, Arvind Kejriwal said, “The truth is that there was no corruption. BJP wants to arrest me. My biggest asset is my honesty and they want to dent it by issuing baseless summons. My lawyers have told me that summons sent to me are illegal. BJP’s aim is not to probe me, but not to let me campaign for Lok Sabha elections. They want to call me on the pretext of investigation and then arrest me.”
Hitting out at the BJP, the AAP chief said, “They have jailed several AAP leaders in this fictitious case. There is no evidence against anyone and nothing is being proven… They are just putting anyone in jail…”
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“You must have heard about the liquor policy scam several times in the past two years. In these two years, all of the BJP’s agencies have carried out several raids and arrested several people, but they haven’t been able to find corruption amounting to even a single paisa. If there has actually been corruption, where have all the crores gone? Has all the money vanished into thin air,” the Chief Minister asked in Hindi.
On Wednesday, the Enforcement Directorate said it was examining the reply sent by Kejriwal regarding his refusal to appear before the agency and may issue its fourth summons to him to join the investigation in the alleged excise policy case.
Also Read: Arvind Kejriwal skips ED summons again, draws condemnation from BJP and Congress alike
Kejriwal had refused to depose before the ED for the third time on Wednesday, saying the “non-disclosure and non-response approach” of the agency cannot sustain the test of law, equity or justice and this “obstinacy” of the ED tantamounts to assuming the role of judge, jury and executioner, PTI reported.
He is all set to undertake a three-day visit to Gujarat from January 6-January 9. The visit comes amid heightened buzz around raids at Kejriwal’s residence in connection with the Delhi liquor policy case.
During his visit to Gujarat, Kejriwal will tour the state in connection with the Lok Sabha elections and is scheduled to address several party functions as well as public gatherings. He is also expected to meet jailed AAP leader Chaitar Vasawa during his stay in the state.