Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will appear before the CBI at 11 am on Sunday in connection with the excise policy case and will be accompanied to the agency's office by his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann and cabinet colleagues. Officials said the CBI may ask the AAP chief about the policy formulation process, especially of the "untraceable" file which was earlier slated to be put before the Delhi Council of Ministers, according to PTI report.
Ahead of this, Kejriwal has slammed PM Narendra Modi-led BJP in a video message. He said that BJP can go to any extent to repress opposition.
"If BJP has ordered CBI to arrest me, then CBI will obviously follow orders," he said.
"I was a Commissioner in the Income Tax department, I could have earned crores if I wanted to. If Arvind Kejriwal is corrupt then there is no one in this world who is honest," he added.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Police has tightened security outside the CBI headquarters. Over 1,000 security personnel, including from paramilitary forces, have been deployed outside the CBI headquarters and section 144 of the CrPC has also been imposed in the area to ensure no gathering of more than four persons takes place, officials said.
Security has also been tightened outside the office of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) at Rouse Avenue, the officials said.
Barricades have also been placed on streets at both these places -- AAP office and CBI headquarters -- to ensure the party's workers and supporters do not create any trouble, a senior police official said.
Kejriwal is being summoned as a witness and is not an accused in the excise policy case in which his former deputy Manish Sisodia was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on February 26. Sisodia was last month arrested by the Enforcement Directorate(ED) and is in judicial custody.
The AAP, however, has called the case a conspiracy against its leader.
CBI officials have said they asked Kejriwal to appear on a Sunday as the offices in the area remain closed. It had adopted the same strategy when Sisodia was called at the agency's headquarters, where he was grilled for eight hours before being taken into custody.
The agency is probing allegations of bribes paid by liquor traders to get licences, according to PTI.
(Edited by : Anshul)
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