Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal to visit Rajghat to mark one year of Manish Sisodia’s arrest

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will be visiting Delhi's Rajghat with Delhi cabinet ministers and MLAs on Monday, February 26. 

The Delhi CM's move marks one year since the day of arrest of former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia. After addressing the Vidhan Sabha assembly at 1 pm, AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal will head to Mahatma Gandhi memorial. 

On February 26, 2023, Manish Sisodia was arrested by the CBI following several rounds of questioning and by the Directorate of Enforcement a month later in the excise policy case. Manish Sisodia has been in custody since then and had also resigned from the Delhi cabinet on 28 February.

Also read: Delhi excise policy case: Supreme Court denies bail to Manish Sisodia

Arvind Kejriwal will not appear before the Directorate of Enforcement today even after receiving seventh summon by the Directorate of Enforcement. AAP party sources informed, "The matter is in the court and the next hearing is on March 16. Instead of sending summons daily, the ED should wait for the court's decision. We will not leave the INDIA alliance. Modi government should not create pressure like this," reported ANI. The ED had issued seventh summon to Delhi Chief Minister on February 22, to appear before the agency.

Also read: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal skips 7th ED summons in liquor case; matter in court, says party

Earlier, the agency (ED) had issued a sixth summon on February 14 in the money laundering case that alleged irregularities in the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 and urged Arvind Kejriwal to cooperate by joining the investigation on February 19. Arvind Kejriwal has been repeatedly missing summons' date and ED has since been issuing fresh summons.

Also read: Delhi Excise Policy scam: SC rejects Manish Sisodia's plea to review bail denial order

While skipping fifth summon, Arvind Kejriwal called these summons “illegal and politically motivated” and said that he was ready to cooperate but claimed that the agency's intention was to arrest him and stop him from election campaigning. He has been repeatedly skipping previous six summons issued by the ED on February 19, February 2, January 18, January 3, November 2 and December 22.

Also read: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal summoned for sixth time in excise policy case

The issued summons to record Kejriwal's statement in the case on issues like the formulation of policy, meetings held before it was finalised and allegations of bribery. 

Also read: Delhi Excise Policy Case: Arvind Kejriwal will not appear before ED today, to attend MP's road show

Two senior AAP leaders including former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh are already under judicial custody in the case. On October 5, the ED arrested Singh to proceed with money laundering probe. 

The Delhi government implemented the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 on November 17, but scrapped it at the end of September 2022 amid corruption allegations.