Arvind Kejriwal Being Questioned At His Residence, Phone Confiscated

Hours after the Delhi High Court refused to grant protection from arrest to Arvind Kejriwal in the liquor policy case, a team from the Enforcement Directorate has reached the chief minister's residence and begun questioning him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

Sources said the team consists of 12 officials and they are inside the residence with a search warrant and the phones of the Aam Aadmi Party chief and his family have been confiscated. As the ED officials carried out their questioning inside the residence, Delhi Police and Rapid Action Force personnel as well as CRPF teams were deployed outside.

Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, who also reached the chief minister's residence, said, "The way the police are inside and nobody is being allowed in, it seems like a raid is being conducted. It seems they have planned to arrest Arvind Kejriwal."

The AAP chief has skipped nine summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the alleged liquor policy scam. On Monday, he also skipped summons issued by the agency in a money-laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the Delhi Jal Board.

The ED team is questioning the Delhi chief minister less than a week after BRS leader K Kavitha was arrested in the liquor policy case. After her arrest, Mr Kejriwal was, for the first time, named as a conspirator in the case.

Ever since the first summons was issued by the Enforcement Directorate in October last year and he was asked to appear on November 2, there has been intense speculation that the Delhi chief minister would be arrested by the agency.

Former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia was arrested in connection with the case in February last year, and AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh was taken into custody in October.

Mr Kejriwal has repeatedly said that there was no scam in the Delhi liquor policy and the ED, which he claims is controlled by the BJP, is out to arrest him. The AAP and many other opposition parties have accused the BJP of misusing central agencies against their leaders. The action, they have claimed, has ramped up in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, which will begin on April 19. 

Earlier on Thursday, the Delhi High Court had declined to give protection from arrest to Mr Kejriwal in the liquor policy case, but had asked the ED to file a reply to his petition. Listing the matter for the next hearing on April 22, a Bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Manoj Jain said, "We have heard both sides, and we are not inclined at this stage (to grant protection). The respondent (ED) is at liberty to file a reply."

AAP Chief's Alleged Role

In a press note released on Sunday, the Enforcement Directorate had called the AAP chief a conspirator in the alleged liquor policy scam.

"ED investigation revealed that Ms K Kavitha along with others conspired with the top leaders of AAP including Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia for getting favours in the Delhi Excise policy formulation and implementation. In exchange of these favours, she was involved in paying Rs 100 Crore to the leaders of AAP," the press note said.

"By the acts of corruption and conspiracy in the formulation and implementation of Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22, a continuous stream of illegal funds in the form of kickback, from the wholesalers was generated for the AAP. Further, Smt K Kavitha and her associates were to recover the proceeds of crime paid in advance to AAP and to further generate profits/proceeds of crime from this entire conspiracy," it added.