Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Apr 16: The Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was on Sunday questioned for over nine hours in connection with the alleged liquor policy scam.
Kejriwal, who was summoned at the CBI headquarters was seen around 8.30 P.M. coming out of the agency office soon after the CBI officials announced that the questioning has been over.
It is the same case in connection with which the investigative agency in February arrested his former Delhi deputy Manish Sisodia. Kejriwal’s summons led to dramatic developments in Delhi as his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders protesting peacefully near the CBI office were detained.
The chief minister had a lunch break during the day, CBI officials said.
AAP Delhi convener Gopal Rai held an emergency meeting at 5pm as the questioning of Kejriwal went on. AAP national secretary Pankaj Gupta, Delhi mayor Shelly Oberoi and deputy mayor Aale Iqbal were present.
Kejriwal was questioned as a witness in the case which investigators said involved corruption in framing the policy to benefit a liquor lobby. He hasn’t been summoned for further questioning by the central agency so far. “The CBI asked me a total of 56 questions. Everything is fake. The case is fake. I am convinced they don’t have anything on us, not a single piece of evidence,” Kejriwal told reporters after reaching home from the CBI headquarters near central Delhi’s Lodhi Road.
“The CBI asked me everything starting from 2020, the year the liquor policy came into force, to the end of it,” Kejriwal said, adding he would discuss more in the special session of the Delhi assembly called by the AAP government on Monday, which, however, has not been cleared by the Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena so far.
“This liquor policy case is a lie, fabricated. Honesty is our ideology. We are willing to die but won’t compromise with honesty. They are doing all this to defame us and our good, development work. We have become a national party now, which is why they are doing this to end us,” Kejriwal told reporters.
AAP leaders including Raghav Chadha and Sanjay Singh were detained by the Delhi Police for protesting near the CBI’s office near central Delhi’s Lodhi Road on Sunday. They were freed as soon as Kejriwal stepped out of the CBI office. “BJP suffers from Kejriwal phobia. It is because of Kejriwal’s fear that the BJP has come down to such an act. It is a cowardly act. We are not scared of jail,” Chadha said.
The CBI has said the then secretary to Mr Sisodia told investigators that the draft liquor policy was given to him in March 2021 by the now-arrested leader at Kejriwal’s home. The bureaucrat, C Arvind, has given the statement before a magistrate, making it admissible evidence in court. The CBI wanted Kejriwal’s statement on the meeting, as it allegedly took place at his home.
The excise policy was cleared by the Delhi government after an inquiry was ordered by the then Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal. The clearance came after it had been deferred twice. The CBI wants to find out why. The Delhi government scrapped the new liquor policy in July 2022, less than a year after it was introduced, and reverted to the old policy.
Raghav Chadha said “We want to give the BJP a message that our party was carved out of the anti-corruption movement and has seen all kinds of struggle. We aren’t scared of CBI, ED or police detention. BJP suffers from Kejriwal phobia. It is because of Kejriwal’s fear that the BJP has come down to such an act. We have not been told our crime or the IPC regulation that we have broken,” Raghav said.
“Their aim is to destroy AAP so that there is no one left to challenge BJP. The central government wants all the close aides of Kejriwal to be put behind bars, but we won’t let it happen. All the party members, MLAs, Punjab cabinet members, Delhi cabinet members are here to protest,” he said.
The Aam Aadmi Party has called a special Assembly session on Monday which Saxena has opposed. “I fail to understand as to under what circumstances and under which provision of the GNCTD Act, 1991 the Second Part of the Fourth Session (Budget Session) of the Seventh Legislative Assembly has been convened instead of moving a proposal for Prorogation of the Budget Session and convening of the “One Day Session as per the Cabinet Decision.” the LG said in his note.
