NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today appeared before the CBI for questioning and recording of his statement as a “witness” in the alleged excise policy scam case even as Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders staged a protest outside the probe agency’s headquarters here and elsewhere in the national Capital.
The CBI questioned the AAP convener for nearly nine hours as he arrived at the agency’s office around 11 am and exited after 8.30 pm. He was allowed a half-an-hour lunch break. Addressing a press conference at his residence after the questioning, Kejriwal said the CBI asked him 56 questions.
Asked whether he had been called again, the CM said, “They didn’t give any such indication as I answered all their questions.” Kejriwal reiterated that the entire case was “fake”, and that he and his party leadership “would prefer death than indulge in corruption”. Again training guns at the BJP, he alleged the saffron party was trying to “defame AAP as it was finding it difficult to swallow the good works done in Delhi and Punjab”.
Senior CBI officials remained present in the office on Sunday, as is the norm whenever a VIP is questioned. The agency had issued summons to Kejriwal on Friday, seeking his response to queries on the inputs generated during the probe into the case in which the Chief Minister’s former deputy Manish Sisodia was arrested on February 26.
Officials said the Chief Minister was interrogated about the excise policy formulation process and an “untraceable” file that was slated to be put up before the Delhi Council of Ministers for consideration. The file, containing the opinion of expert and legal committees and the public, was not placed before the council and went “missing”.
The CBI is also learnt to have posed questions to Kejriwal on the statements of other accused wherein they have indicated the manner in which the policy was allegedly influenced to favour some liquor businessmen and the South liquor lobby, the officials said. They said questions were also asked with regard to the Chief Minister’s role in the formulation of the policy before it was approved.
Before leaving for the office of the Central Bureau of Investigation, Kejriwal, in a five-minute video message, claimed that the BJP might have ordered the agency to arrest him. He asserted that he would truthfully and honestly answer questions posed by the CBI as he had “nothing to hide”.
The AAP chief was accompanied to the agency’s office by his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann and a few Cabinet ministers from Delhi and Punjab, including Saurabh Bharadwaj, Atishi and Kailash Gahlot, besides Rajya Sabha MPs Sandeep Pathak, Raghav Chadha and Sanjay Singh. The leaders gathered near the CBI headquarters and raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
After his arrival at the agency’s headquarters, officials said, Kejriwal was taken to the first floor office of the Anti-Corruption Branch of the CBI, which is probing the matter. It is alleged that the Delhi Government’s excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders favoured certain dealers who had “paid” bribes for it, a charge refuted by AAP. The policy was later scrapped.