If I am corrupt, no one in the world is honest: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal confirms he’ll appear before CBI

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said he will appear before the CBI in the excise policy case and asserted that if he was "corrupt" then no one in the world was "honest".

Addressing a press conference over the CBI summons to him in the excise policy case, he claimed that BJP leaders were demanding his arrest and that if the saffron party had "ordered" the probe agency to arrest him, it cannot refuse doing so.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has summoned the AAP leader in connection with the case on Sunday. He has been asked to be present at the agency headquarters at 11 am to answer queries of the investigating team, officials said. The central probe agency has already arrested former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia in connection with the case.

It is alleged that the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge strongly refuted by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The policy was later scrapped.

Kejriwal also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, levelling allegations of corruption against him. "How can corruption be an issue for such a person who is submerged in corruption from head to toe," he said and cited the charges levelled against Modi by former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satyapal Malik.

“I want to say to Modiji, if Kejriwal is a thief or corrupt, then there isn't a single honest man in this world," he asserted.Kejriwal said no party in the 75-year history of independent India had been targeted like the AAP because it has given hope to people which no other party has been able to do so far.

"The AAP has given hope to people that it can eradicate poverty, provide education and employment to their children. The prime minister wants to crush this hope," he said. In 30 years of the BJP rule in Gujarat, in which Modi was the chief minister for 12 years, the condition of not a single school could be improved, while the AAP government in Delhi turned around the government schools in five years, he said.

"A temporary classroom had to be set up when the prime minister visited a school in Gujarat...," Kejriwal quipped. He said the BJP was trying to corner the AAP and it first sent party's “number 2 and number 3” (Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain) leaders behind the bars and now they wanted to catch hold of him.

“The issue is not corruption or liquor scam. How could it be for a person who himself is submerged in corruption? I had cited various instances of corruption in my speech at Delhi Assembly in March and I got a call from Sanjay Singh (party MP) that I was next,” said the AAP supremo.

Batting for the now scrapped Excise Policy 2021-22 of his government, Kejriwal said it could have ended corruption. “The same policy has led to a 50 per cent rise in revenue in the last one year,” he claimed.

Kejriwal alleged torture and threats to those arrested by the central agencies in connection with the liquor scam probe. “I want to ask the prime minister what is going on. They catch anyone and then torture them to name Kejriwal or Sisodia. That is their probe,” he said.

Kejriwal alleged that the CBI and the ED “lied” in the court that Sisodia destroyed 14 mobile phones to hide evidence. “The seizure memo of ED shows that it has four of the 14 phones, while one was with the CBI. Our own investigation has revealed that the remaining nine phone (numbers) were active and being used by persons like AAP volunteers," he claimed.

Later in a tweet, Kejriwal said, “We will file appropriate cases against the CBI and the ED officials for perjury and producing false evidence in courts.” Kejriwal further said it has been alleged that a bribe of Rs 100 crore was taken, but asked where the money was.

"More than 400 raids were conducted...Where is the money? It was said that the money was used in Goa elections. They questioned every Goa vendor whom we had employed, but could not find anything," he asserted.

Every transaction in question had taken place through cheques and was duly reported to the Election Commission, he said. “When no bribe has been taken, there is no way on earth for these agencies to find any money trail,” the CM said.

He questioned the agencies for not coming out with any evidence in support of their charges. “If I say I gave Rs 1,000 crores to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 17 at 7 pm, will the ED-CBI arrest him? There has to be some evidence.,” Kejriwal said. He cited names of several persons under the net in the excise case and alleged third degree treatment to them.

“One Chandan Reddy was beaten so badly that his eardrums burst. A witness was pressured to sign a fabricated statement by threatening to jail his father and wife. Some others were coerced into giving false statements that they later withdrew in the courts”" he claimed. The lawyer of one of the witnesses has gone on record in court to highlight how his client was being "harassed" to "implicate Delhi politicians”, said the AAP convener.

Kejriwal said the whole issue is that all the parties are busy with loot and people now have hope from the AAP. If they also started building schools and hospitals where will be the money for them to loot, he added.