New Delhi, India

The Enforcement Directorate approached Rouse Avenue Court and lodged a complaint against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday (Feb 3) for non-compliance with the summons issued to him in the Delhi liquor policy money laundering case.

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The Delhi court after hearing the submissions on Saturday (Feb 7) decided on Feb 7 as the date to consider the latest complaint filed by ED and the hearing for the remaining submissions.

The complaint by ED before the Rouse Avenue court in New Delhi was filed under Section 190 (1)(a) Cr.P.C. r/w. Section 200 Cr.P.C., 1973 r/w. Section 174 IPC, 1860 r/w. Section 63 (4) of PMLA, 2002 for non-attendance in compliance with Section 50, PMLA, 2002.

The Delhi CM skipped the ED summons for the fifth time in connection with the money laundering probe related to irregularities in the Delhi excise policy 2021-22 case. The latest move by the agency comes after Kejriwal skipped the fourth summons on Jan 18.

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Kejriwal has so far skipped four summons issued by the ED on Jan 18, Jan 3, Nov 2 and Dec 22, dubbing them "illegal and politically motivated".

Also read: India: Punjab governor resigns in a sudden move, cites 'personal reasons'

'Police doing drama', says Kejriwal

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Meanwhile, after crime branch officials issued notice to Kejriwal in connection with AAP's allegations against the BJP of "poaching AAP MLAs", the Aam Aadmi Party chief said that the Delhi police, instead of stopping crime in the national capital, was doing drama on the instructions of "political masters", which he stated resulted in the increase of crime rate.

In a post on X, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, "I sympathize with the crime branch police officer. What is their fault? Their job is to stop crime in Delhi. But instead of stopping crime, this kind of drama is being done. That is why crime is increasing so much in Delhi. Their political masters are asking me that which AAP MLA was being tried to poach? But you know more than me? You know everything. Why only Delhi, do you know which MLAs from other parties and which governments were toppled in the last few years across the country? Then why this drama?"

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AAP has levied allegations against the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party of making an attempt to topple the elected Delhi government through a campaign called "Operation Lotus 2.0".

The Aam Aadmi Party leader Atishi claimed that the BJP had approached many AAP MLAs with bribes and threats with an aim to induce defection.

"BJP has started 'Operation Lotus 2.0', and is trying to topple the democratically elected AAP government in Delhi. 7 MLAs of the AAP have been contacted by the BJP, and have been told, that Arvind Kejriwal will be arrested soon, after which AAP MLAs will be rifted apart. They are in touch with 21 of our MLAs, using whom they aim to topple the Delhi government. Those 7 MLAs have been offered Rs 25 crores each. Operation Lotus is the tactic used by the BJP to come into power in states, where they are not democratically elected. Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Arunachal Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh are examples," the AAP leader said.

(With the inputs from agencies)