Did Delhi L-G Allow ED To Prosecute Arvind Kejriwal? Row Erupts Over Excise Policy Case Ahead Of Polls

Last Updated:December 21, 2024, 13:36 IST

According to the CBI and the ED, irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy and undue favours were extended to the licence holders.

File photo of Lt Governor VK Saxena with Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal. (PTI)

Lieutenant governor VK Saxena has allowed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to prosecute former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in a case related to a now-scrapped excise policy, according to multiple media outlets on Saturday. Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), however, dismissed the reports as “fake news", in a fresh row that broke out in the run-up to assembly elections in the national capital.

The ED allegedly found a “huge level of corruption in framing and implementation" of the excise policy, and hence, reached out to Saxena earlier this month for his nod to prosecute Kejriwal.

The probe agency’s appeal was mentioned in prosecution complaint no. 7 filed in the Rouse Avenue court on May 17 this year. The court took cognisance of the complaint on July 9.

Meanwhile, AAP leaders Saurabh Bharadwaj, Priyanka Kakkar and Manish Sisodia claimed that ED is “spreading fake news". They said that a copy of the permission should be given to them if such an order has been passed.

The money laundering case stems from a CBI case lodged after Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena recommended a probe into the alleged irregularities in the implementation of the excise policy.

According to the CBI and the ED, irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy and undue favours were extended to the licence holders.

The Delhi government implemented the policy on November 17, 2021, and scrapped it by the end of September 2022 amid allegations of corruption.

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