Excise policy case: ED summons Delhi Minister Kailash Gahlot

Enforcement Directorate summons Delhi Minister Kailash Gahlot for questioning in money-laundering case linked to excise policy corruption.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Delhi Minister Kailash Gahlot for questioning on March 30 in connection with a money-laundering case linked to the now-scrapped excise policy for the capital, official sources said.

Mr. Gahlot (49), an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA from Najafgarh, is the Minister for Transport, Home and Law in the Delhi government led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has been arrested in the case by the federal agency.

Sources said Mr. Gahlot has been asked to appear for questioning in the case and getting his statement recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

He is expected to be questioned with regard to the formulation of the policy as he was part of the Group of Ministers (GoM), along with former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and former urban development minister Satyendar Jain, on the preparation and implementation of the new liquor scheme for 2021-22.

The agency had mentioned Gahlot’s name in its chargesheet and in the context of Vijay Nair, the AAP communications in-charge arrested earlier in the case, saying Nair lived in the government bungalow allotted to Gahlot, who “ironically” lives in Najafgarh in southwest Delhi.

Describing this practice of allowing the use of a government residence to someone else by a public servant as a “criminal breach of trust”, the ED had said it had asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to take action in the matter.

The case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22, which was later scrapped.