CBI, ED ‘unnecessarily troubling everyone’, don't understand what liquor scam is: Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi: After the Enforcement Directorate (ED) launched fresh raids at about 40 locations across the country as part of a money laundering investigation into alleged irregularities in the now scrapped Delhi Excise Policy, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday (September 16, 2022) hit back at Centre and said that CBI and ED are "unnecessarily troubling everyone". While addressing a press conference, the Delhi chief minister also said the country can't progress like this.

Kejriwal said the Lieutenant Governor, the CBI and the BJP have quoted varying amounts of money involved in the alleged liquor scam but he doesn't understand what it is really about.

"One of their (BJP) leaders says that it is a scam of Rs 8,000 crore, the LG says it is a scam of Rs 144 crore and the CBI FIR says there is a scam of Rs 1 crore. I don't understand what the liquor scam is," Kejriwal said.

"The country cannot progress like this. They are unnecessarily troubling everyone," he said.

Today’s searches are being conducted at premises linked to liquor businessmen, distributors and supply chain networks in Nellore and some other cities in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Delhi-NCR, they said.

This is the second round of raids being conducted by the federal agency in this case after it first conducted searches on September 6 at about 45 locations across the country.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) case of money laundering in the excise policy stems from a CBI FIR in which Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and some bureaucrats have been named as accused. The excise policy has been rolled back now.

The agency also is expected to question AAP leader and minister Satyendar Jain in the Tihar jail in connection with this case on Friday after it obtained permission from a local court to do so.

(With agency inputs)