Durgesh Pathak is AAP MLA from Delhi's Rajinder Nagar
Durgesh Pathak, MLA from Delhi's Rajinder Nagar and senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader, has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for questioning in a money laundering case linked to Delhi's now-scrapped liquor policy. The ED has summoned him at 2 pm today. Bibhav Kumar, personal assistant of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, is also being questioned.
Mr Pathak, who is a member of AAP's political affairs committee and national executive and the in-charge of its organisation building team, was earlier summoned by the central agency in 2022.
The fresh summons comes at a time when AAP's top leaders, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia are in prison in connection with the ED's case. AAP MP Sanjay Singh, who was also behind the bars, recently came out on bail.
The party has scrapped the allegations against its leaders and accused the BJP-led central government of using probe agencies for political objectives.
The summons to Mr Pathak comes days after Delhi minister and AAP leader Atishi said that the ED plans to arrest her and three more AAP leaders -- Saurabh Bharadwaj, Raghav Chadha and Durgesh Pathak.
Alleging that the BJP has approached her through "someone very close", she claimed that the offer was to join the BJP and "save my political career" or get arrested by the ED.
She said the person who approached her on behalf of the BJP had said that the ruling party had "made up its mind on crushing everyone in AAP". "The BJP's plan is to arrest four more AAP leaders in the next two months. They will arrest me, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Durgesh Pathak and Raghav Chadha," she said.
The BJP's Delhi unit has responded by sending a defamation notice to Ms Atishi and demanding a public apology. "Atishi failed to provide evidence of who approached her, how and when. The AAP is undergoing a crisis in Delhi, which is why they are making such baseless allegations out of frustration. But we will not let her get away with this," Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva told the media.
It is alleged that the Delhi government's liquor policy, introduced in 2021 and withdrawn the next year, provided under benefits to liquor licencees. Following a recommendation from Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena, the CBI started its probe into the allegations of irregularities. The ED is probing the money trail in the case.