Kejriwal summoned by CBI in excise case

The summons drew a sharp retort from the AAP, which said the chief minister was being targeted for “raising questions” against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Sunday’s exercise will mark Kejriwal’s first involvement in the excise policy probe, which has already seen his deputy Manish Sisodia arrested by two central agencies — CBI, which took him in on February 26 and the Enforcement Directorate, on March 9.

To be sure, Kejriwal has been summoned as a “witness” in the case, said the people cited above.

The Delhi CM has not been named as an accused in the first information report (FIR) in the case, filed on August 17 last year. However, according to people aware of the investigations, his name cropped up when other accused and witnesses were questioned, prompting the agency to seek clarifications.

”He has been called for questioning as a witness at 11am on Sunday to seek clarifications on certain claims by witnesses and accused persons regarding the formulation and implementation of the policy,” said one of the officials cited above.

ED has claimed in one of its charge sheets, filed on January 6, that the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy was the “brainchild” of Kejriwal.

Kejriwal’s name, said CBI officials, has also been mentioned in court documents, including charge sheets and remand papers, in reference to alleged meetings, fixing commissions for private players, and the entry of political players and businesspeople from the south into Delhi’s liquor business.

For instance, ED in its charge sheet filed this January, claimed that Kejriwal told businessman Sameer Mahendru — during a video call arranged by AAP member Vijay Nair — that “Vijay (Nair) is his boy and that he should trust him”.

“Nair arranged a meeting of the owner of Indo Spirits — Sameer Mahendru — with Arvind Kejriwal, and when that didn’t materialise, he arranged a video call through FaceTime on his phone for Mahendru and Kejriwal, where Kejriwal said to Mahendru that Vijay (Nair) is his boy and that Mahendru should trust him and carry on with him,” says the ED charge sheet, citing Mahendru’s statement, recorded on November 15 last year.

Subsequently, citing a December 7, 2022 statement recorded by former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia’s then secretary C Arvind, the federal agency claimed that he was informed of the decision to carve a 12% profit margin for wholesale private entities at Kejriwal’s residence in March, 2021.

There were no discussions about handing the wholesale liquor business to private players in meetings held by the group of ministers (GoM) — which comprised Sisodia, Satyendar Jain and Kailash Gahlot — before mid-March 2021, C Arvind has told ED.

However, said the ED charge sheet, “In mid-March, 2021, C Arvind was called by Sisodia to Kejriwal’s residence (where Satyendar Jain was also present) and Sisodia handed over a document to C Arvind, which was a draft GoM report proposing that the wholesale (business) should go to private entities and asked him to prepare the draft GoM report based on the said document. He said that it was the first time that he saw this proposal as the same was never discussed in any GoM meetings.”

The Delhi government’s 2021-22 excise policy aimed to revitalise the city’s flagging liquor business. It aimed to replace a sales-volume based regime with a license fee one for traders, and promised swankier stores, free of the infamous metal grilles, ultimately giving customers a better buying experience. The policy also introduced discounts and offers on the purchase of liquor, a first for Delhi.

The plan, however, came to an abrupt end, with Delhi’s lieutenant governor Vinai Kumar Saxena recommending a probe into alleged irregularities in the regime. This ultimately resulted in the policy being scrapped prematurely and being replaced by the 2020-21 regime, with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) alleging that Saxena’s predecessor sabotaged the move with a few last-minute changes that resulted in lower-than-expected revenues.

The AAP and the Delhi government have rejected the charges, alleging it to be a ploy by the BJP-controlled Union government to target rivals.

On Friday evening, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh called the summons a “conspiracy”.

“Kejriwal is being targeted and has been questioned after he raised questions on the PM. This notice is a conspiracy to scare and arrest the CM, but he cannot be silenced easily,” he said.

Earlier on Friday, hours before he was issued the summons, the CM accused ED of fabricating statements and misleading the court in the case against Sisodia.

In an interaction with the media, Kejriwal said ED alleged that Sisodia destroyed his cellphones. However, Kejriwal said, many of those phones are in ED’s custody, “indicating that the whole matter is fabricated.”

“ED is fabricating statements by torturing and pressuring people. This is not a good practice. The whole matter is made up with no reality in it,” said Kejriwal.

Agencies investigating the policy have alleged that Kejriwal, Sisodia and Nair are linked with a conglomerate known as the “South Group”, allegedly comprising politicians and businesspeople, which got at least nine retail zones in Delhi’s liquor business, after allegedly bribing AAP leaders ₹100 crore.

The South Group, according to ED, comprises YSR Congress parliamentarian Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy (or MSR), his son Raghav Magunta, Sarath Reddy (promoter of Aurobindo Group), and K Kavitha (daughter of Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao) and Mahendru.

ED has also alleged that MSR met Kejriwal to understand details of the excise policy and “that Kejriwal welcomed his entry into Delhi’s liquor trade”.

ED has alleged that the AAP used a part of the ₹100-crore kickbacks generated by the Delhi excise policy during its campaigns for the 2022 Goa assembly elections.

The agency has also pegged the loss in the excise policy irregularities at ₹2,873 crore.