Delhi Police team at Kejriwal's residence to serve notice again

A team of Delhi Police’s crime branch on Saturday morning once again reached the residence of chief minister and Aam Admi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal to serve him a notice in connection with the allegations that BJP was trying to "buy" AAP MLAs.

Sources said the team had asked Kejriwal to provide evidence in the matter. On Friday, as per sources, besides Kejriwal’s residence, the Crime Branch team also went to AAP minister Atishi's residence to serve a notice. However, the notices were not accepted at either location.

"Atishi was not at home, neither was Kejriwal. The Crime Branch team is likely to come again tomorrow," the sources said.

Meanwhile, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva had said the saffron party welcomes reports of the Crime Branch launching an inquiry into AAP's allegations of "BJP luring AAP MLAs".

The Delhi BJP had filed a complaint on 30 January, stating that it had made no such offer to AAP MLAs, while demanding a police inquiry into Kejriwal's "false" allegations. Sachdeva had said the Crime Branch had served notice to Kejriwal that he should either submit evidence to support his allegations, or be prepared to face criminal proceedings.

Meanwhile, on Friday, Kejriwal declined to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for questioning in an alleged money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy, according to AAP sources.

On Wednesday, the ED had issued its fifth summons to Kejriwal after he had skipped four earlier summonses over the last four months.

Kejriwal will not appear before the agency for questioning, his party said. Terming the summons "illegal", AAP sources said the ED is repeatedly sending notices to Kejriwal to arrest him.

The AAP also alleged that the BJP wants to topple its government in Delhi by getting Kejriwal arrested. The AAP will not let this happen, it said.

Kejriwal skipped ED summonses for 2 November and 21 December in 2023 and 3 and 18 January this year, calling these notices "illegal".