ED team reaches Delhi CM Kejriwal’s residence for questioning after HC setback
New Delhi, March 21 (IANS) An ED team reached Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence on Thursday evening, hours after the Delhi High Court denied him protection against “coercive action” by the agency, which has issued multiple summons to him. The ED is likely to question him in the alleged excise policy scam, said agency sources.
There was heavy police deployment around the Chief Minister’s residence as Kejriwal skipped the ED’s ninth summons in the Delhi liquor policy case. Earlier during the day, a division bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Manoj Jain, after hearing the arguments from both sides, declined to grant any order for interim relief on Kejriwal’s plea.
The bench had questioned why Kejriwal didn’t appear before the probe agency in response to the summons. Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Arvind Kejriwal, contended that the ED’s summons lacked clarity regarding the capacity in which Kejriwal was called to appear.
ASG S.V. Raju, along with special counsel Zoheb Hossain, appearing for the Enforcement Directorate, opposed granting interim relief to Kejriwal, stressing the necessity for the Delhi CM’s interrogation based on the available evidence. The ED had issued multiple summons to Kejriwal in the Delhi liquor policy case. Kejriwal had skipped several summonses earlier, leading to the current situation.
