New Delhi: Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) Thursday in connection with the excise policy case after hours of questioning at his residence.
According to ED sources, Kejriwal was aware of “how undue favours were being extended to the licensees like waivers and reduction in the license fee, and the extension of the L-1 license (granted to business entities having wholesale distribution experience in liquor trade) in exchange for kickbacks”.
It is alleged that the AAP received Rs 100 crore as kickbacks which were then used to fund elections in Punjab and Goa.
Sources in the ED said that Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha, previously arrested in the case, and others conspired with top leaders of AAP including Kejriwal and former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia to get favours in the excise policy’s formulation and implementation.
“In exchange for these favours, she was involved in paying Rs 100 crore to the leaders of AAP. 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 kickbacks from the wholesalers was generated for the AAP,” an ED source said.
Till now the central agency has carried out searches at 245 locations in the country, and arrested a total of 15 people.
Kejriwal’s arrest came hours after the Delhi High Court refused to provide him relief for “potential coercive action”. The ED had issued a total of nine summons to Kejriwal to join the probe but he had refused, questioning the legality of the summons.
As news of the ED knocking on the chief minister’s doors spread quickly, several high-profile ministers assembled outside his official residence in Delhi’s Civil Lines. Security at Kejriwal’s residence and the ED headquarters was also beefed up with units of paramilitary forces moving in to take charge.
Delhi Cabinet Minister Atishi told media persons that Kejriwal won’t tender his resignation. She said he has moved the Supreme Court and has requested an urgent hearing, seeking quashing of the arrest.
Our legal team is heading to the residence of the Registar of the Supreme Court, to ask for an urgent hearing. https://t.co/jpHRnzaIn4
— Atishi (@AtishiAAP) March 21, 2024
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera told ThePrint that the move to arrest Kejriwal and its timing show the government’s intention to cripple the INDIA alliance.
“First freezing out accounts and now Kejriwal’s arrest. This government clearly wants INDIA to be crippled,” Khera told ThePrint.
Kejriwal is the second sitting CM to have been arrested by the central agency. On 31 January, the ED arrested Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Hemant Soren after over seven hours of questioning on money laundering charges in an alleged land fraud case. Before his arrest, Soren tendered his resignation as Jharkhand chief minister to Governor C.P. Radhakrishnan at the Raj Bhavan and was then taken to the ED office.
NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) chief Sharad Pawar too reacted to the arrest through a post on X.
Strongly condemn the vindictive misuse of central agencies to target the opposition, especially as general elections loom. This arrest showcases the depth to which BJP will stoop for power. ‘INDIA’ stands united against this unconstitutional action against #ArvindKejriwal
— Sharad Pawar (@PawarSpeaks) March 21, 2024
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The case
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 — these are some of the allegations being probed by the CBI in its case against Sisodia and other state government officials.
On 22 July last year, Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena recommended a CBI probe into the AAP 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 the 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 others 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 ED has said that the new liquor policy “prompted cartel formations through backdoor” and “incentivised other illegal activities” as part of a criminal conspiracy by top AAP leaders to extract kickbacks from liquor barons.
The charge sheet, a copy of which ThePrint has accessed, 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 charge sheet, AAP media and communications in-charge Vijay Nair allegedly received Rs 100 crore from the “South Group” which comprised, among others, 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 charge sheet also stated that Nair had arranged a meeting between the owner of Indospirit Group Sameer Mahendru and 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,” an ED source said.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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