NEW DELHI: Senior AAP leader and Delhi minister Atishi on Sunday said the new summons to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by Enforcement Directorate in connection to the DJB case is a part of a “backup plan to arrest and prevent him from campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections.
“Nobody knows what this DJB (Delhi Jal Board) case is about. This seems to be a backup plan to arrest Kejriwal anyhow and stop him from campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls,” she claimed while holding at a press conference.
Atishi said the two summonses asking Kejriwal to appear before the central agency next week were received hours after the Lok Sabha polls date announcement on Saturday.
She added that one of them was related to the excise policy case and the other to the DJB. The AAP leader charged that the BJP was using ED and CBI as its “goons” to finish off political opponents.
There was no immediate reaction from the ED and the CBI.The ED has summoned Kejriwal for questioning on March 18 in a money laundering probe linked to alleged irregularities in the DJB. This is the second case registered under the anti-money laundering law in which the 55-year-old politician, also the AAP national convenor, has been summoned.
He is already facing summons for questioning in the Delhi excise policy-linked money laundering case. Kejriwal has skipped eight summonses in this case till now, terming them illegal.
A fresh and ninth such notice in the excise policy case stipulates him to appear before an ED investigating officer on March 21.
A Delhi court on Saturday granted Kejriwal bail on two complaints filed by the agency against him for skipping summons in this case.