New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been summoned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the excise policy case.
According to a CBI source, Kejriwal has been called for questioning at 11 am Sunday.
This is the first time that Kejriwal, who has not been named as an accused in the FIR, will be questioned in connection with the alleged scam.
Former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, a key accused in the case, has been in jail after he was arrested by the CBI on 26 February and then by the Enforcement Directorate on 9 March on charges of money-laundering.
According to the source, Kejriwal will be questioned on alleged irregularities in the modification of the excise policy.
“Kejriwal was aware of how undue favours were being extended to the licensees like waivers and reduction in the license fee, and extension of L-1 license (granted to business entities having wholesale distribution experience in liquor trade). He will also be questioned on the kickbacks received for these favours,” the source said.
Granting undue financial favours to vendors taking liquor licenses, thereby causing losses of “over Rs 140 crore” to the state exchequer, receiving kickbacks in return for these favours, conniving with owners of several companies as part of a nexus — are some of the allegations being probed by the CBI in its case against former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and other state government officials.
On 22 July last year, Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena recommended a CBI probe into the Aam Aadmi Party government’s Excise Policy 2021-22, alleging “deliberate and gross procedural lapses”, according to an assessment report prepared by Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar.
Following directions from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for an inquiry into the matter of alleged irregularities in framing and implementation of the excise policy, the CBI on 17 August registered a case against Sisodia, three government officials, 10 liquor licensees, and unknown others.
According to the CBI’s FIR — accessed by ThePrint — the named accused were instrumental in “recommending and taking decisions pertaining to excise policy for the year 2021-22 without the approval of the competent authority, with an intention to extend undue favours to the licensees post tender”.
Besides Sisodia, the other officials named in the FIR include Excise Commissioner Arava Gopi Krishna, former deputy excise commissioner Anand Tiwari, and former assistant excise commissioner Pankaj Bhatnagar.
Searches in connection with the case were conducted in Delhi, Gurugram, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, and Bengaluru. Documents and digital records in connection with the excise policy were seized, agency sources said.
Facetime call, Rs 100 crore poll campaign fund — Kejriwal’s link
In its charge sheet, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has said that the new liquor policy “prompted cartel formations through backdoor” and “incentivized other illegal activities” as part of a criminal conspiracy by top AAP leaders to extract kickbacks from liquor barons.
The chargesheet, a copy of which is with ThePrint, further alleges that the rescinded liquor policy gave way to an “exorbitant profit margin at 12 per cent and huge retail profit margin of 185 per cent”.
According to the chargesheet, AAP media and communications in-charge Vijay Nair allegedly received Rs 100 crore from the “South Group” which comprised, among others, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K. Kavitha, as advance kickbacks. This money — managed through “hawala channels” — was then used in the AAP’s poll campaign in Goa, the ED claimed.
The chargesheet also said that Nair had arranged a meeting of the owner of Indospirit Group, Sameer Mahendru, with the Delhi CM. When the meeting did not materialise, Nair arranged a “Facetime” call where Kejriwal allegedly told Mahendru that Nair was “his boy” and that he should trust him. These facts, ED said, were relevant to establishing Nair’s involvement in the framing of the now-withdrawn excise policy and the alleged scam.
“It appears that Kejriwal was favouring these liquor barons and he will be questioned in this regard,” the source said.
Also read: ED questions CM Kejriwal’s PA Bibhav Kumar in excise policy money laundering case