<p>New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued a fresh summons to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the excise policy case after he refused to appear before investigators thrice since November. </p><p>Officials said Kejriwal has now been asked to appear before the investigators on January 18.</p><p>The AAP has been alleging that the agency's intention is to arrest their party chief and stop him from campaigning in the Lok Sabha elections.</p><p>Kejriwal has repeatedly written to the ED saying he will not appear before the agency as the summons issued to him, asking him to appear before the central agency on November 2 and December 21 last year and on January 3, 2024, are illegal.</p>.Calcutta HC grants protection to ED officers in Sandeshkhali case.<p>In his letters, Kejriwal has said that the agency's summons was not in consonance with law and sent for "extraneous considerations" at the behest of ruling BJP to create "sensational news" in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections.</p><p>"The timing of your summons leaves much to desire and strengthens my belief that the summons being sent to me are not based upon any objective or rational yardstick but for extraneous considerations at the behest of political rivals who wish to silence the voice of the Opposition to the ruling dispensation at the Centre to create sensational news in the final few months leading up to the Parliamentary elections in early to mid-2024," he said in one of the letters.</p><p>He also said the ED was "deliberately" seeking his personal appearance "without specifying any reason or necessity" when the Prevention of Money Laundering Act itself provides appearance through authorised persons is "indicative of the motive to harass and embarrass" him. </p>
<p>New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued a fresh summons to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the excise policy case after he refused to appear before investigators thrice since November. </p><p>Officials said Kejriwal has now been asked to appear before the investigators on January 18.</p><p>The AAP has been alleging that the agency's intention is to arrest their party chief and stop him from campaigning in the Lok Sabha elections.</p><p>Kejriwal has repeatedly written to the ED saying he will not appear before the agency as the summons issued to him, asking him to appear before the central agency on November 2 and December 21 last year and on January 3, 2024, are illegal.</p>.Calcutta HC grants protection to ED officers in Sandeshkhali case.<p>In his letters, Kejriwal has said that the agency's summons was not in consonance with law and sent for "extraneous considerations" at the behest of ruling BJP to create "sensational news" in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections.</p><p>"The timing of your summons leaves much to desire and strengthens my belief that the summons being sent to me are not based upon any objective or rational yardstick but for extraneous considerations at the behest of political rivals who wish to silence the voice of the Opposition to the ruling dispensation at the Centre to create sensational news in the final few months leading up to the Parliamentary elections in early to mid-2024," he said in one of the letters.</p><p>He also said the ED was "deliberately" seeking his personal appearance "without specifying any reason or necessity" when the Prevention of Money Laundering Act itself provides appearance through authorised persons is "indicative of the motive to harass and embarrass" him. </p>
