2 days, 3 summons: Karti, Tejashwi, Kejriwal face ED action

New Delhi: Three Opposition leaders faced Enforcement Directorate action in the past two days with Congress MP Karti Chidambaram appearing before the investigators and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal slapped with fresh summons after both skipped appearing in separate cases.

Karti appeared before investigators in connection with a money laundering case related to the issuance of visas to certain Chinese nationals in 2011 for a project. The ED alleged that a bribe of Rs 50 lakh was paid to Karti and S Bhaskaraman, claimed to be his associate, to facilitate visas for 263 Chinese nationals to work on a power project in Punjab in 2011.

He mentioned that this marks the 20th day of his appearance before the ED, and it has become a routine affair for him.

“They ask the same things, and I give the same answers. It is a dead case, a dormant and closed case. The CBI has practically closed this matter but they (ED) want to reopen it and ask me something. My lawyers have already replied extensively and given them a 100-page reply (sic),” Karti said.

"It is the season of Christmas; they missed me, so they are calling me again. We are here to exchange Christmas greetings," he added.

The Congress MP had previously characterised the ED probe as a "fishing and roving" inquiry, stating that he had already submitted documents to the agency. He had requested more time to collect additional documents, having skipped appearances twice on December 12 and December 16.

Tejashwi received fresh summons on Saturday as he skipped the earlier summons to appear before the agency on December 22 in the Railway 'land-for-jobs scam' case. The agency has now rescheduled his appearance to January 5, according to official sources.

His father, RJD chief Lalu Prasad, has been summoned to depose on December 27 in the same case. The ED case is based on a CBI FIR from May 2022, alleging that Railway jobs were given in 2008-09 when Prasad was Railways Minister in exchange for land. Alongside Lalu, his wife Rabri and daughters Misa Bharti and Hema Yadav are also named in the CBI FIR, along with 12 people who were allegedly given jobs in Railways in 2008-09.

The third summons sent on Friday to Kejriwal came after he refused to appear before the agency on Thursday, citing irregularities in the notice sent by the ED to him. The agency has now rescheduled his appearance before investigators in the Delhi excise policy-linked money laundering case to January 3.

On Thursday, Kejriwal wrote to the agency, stating that its summons was not in consonance with the law and claimed that it was sent for "extraneous considerations" at the behest of the ruling BJP to create "sensational news" in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections. He had been previously asked to appear on November 2, which was also not honoured on similar grounds.