Enforcement Directorate Raids Premises Of Kejriwal's Personal Secretary And AAP Leaders: Report

The premises of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's secretary Bibhav Kumar and some individuals associated with the Aam Aadmi Party were searched by the Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday.

The raid was conducted as part of a money laundering probe, according to official sources,

About 12 premises in the national capital are being covered in the raids, reported Aaj Tak. The officials of the central agency are covering the locations of Bibhav Kumar and former Delhi Jal Board member Shalabh Kumar, along with some others.

ED raids at APP leaders

In the preceding week, compliance with repeated summonses issued to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal was sought by the Enforcement Directorate in a special court. The summonses required him to be present before the investigating officers of the agency probing the alleged Delhi liquor scam, in which the AAP government's excise policy was allegedly rigged to favor a cartel of liquor traders.

After a brief hearing on the complaint filed by the ED, the matter was scheduled for a hearing on February 7 by the judge. Five summonses issued to Kejriwal have already been skipped by him, denouncing them as illegal on the grounds that he was not an accused in the case.

The plea in the court against the Delhi CM marked a switch of tack on the part of ED, which arrested Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren last week after he refused to respond to corruption charges.

ED officials maintain that Kejriwal's disregard of summonses can be seen as him being evasive and not cooperating with the investigation, providing sufficient reason for the agency to arrest him and approach the court for custodial interrogation, as reported by Times of India.