Three high-profile arrests have been made so far in the case — Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, former Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia and AAP’s communication in-charge Vijay Nair. 

AGENCIES

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for questioning in an excise policy-linked money-laundering case on November 2, official sources said on Monday.

Arvind Kejriwal (55) has been issued the summons under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and according to the sources, the agency will record his statement once he deposes before the investigating officer of the case in Delhi.

This is the first time that Kejriwal has been summoned by the ED. He was questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the case in April.

The ED has mentioned Kejriwal’s name multiple times in its chargesheets filed in the case and said the accused were in touch with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader regarding the preparation and execution of the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22.

Two cases have been filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the ED for alleged irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22.


Prominent AAP leaders Sanjay Singh and Manish Sisodia have been arrested.   Sisodia was denied bail by the Supreme Court on Oct 30, 2023.

Sisodia was first arrested by the CBI in February and by the ED in March. In the ED’s chargesheet, Sisodia was named a “key conspirator”. 

Supreme Court dismissed his bail plea in the same case. A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and S V N Bhatti said the prosecution had assured that the trial in the case would be over within six to eight months and added that Sisodia would be entitled to file a fresh bail plea in three months if the trial proceeds sloppily or slowly.

Sanjay Singh was arrested earlier this month, with the ED alleging that “he exploited and gained illegal money/kickbacks, which is proceeds of crime generated from the liquor policy (2021-22) scam… (he) has been part of the conspiracy of collecting kickbacks from liquor groups… (he) has a close relationship with Dinesh Arora since 2017 as revealed by (the latter) as well as from his call records”.  

Another AAP leader Nair was arrested last September and he was accused of being a middleman between the ‘South Group’ which allegedly gave Rs 100 crore as kickbacks to enter the liquor retail segment in the Capital, and the AAP.