The Aam Aadmi Party held protests in many areas against the CBI’s summons to Kejriwal and several top leaders were detained by police ■ 

 

DELHI Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was questioned by the CBI on Sunday for nearly nine hours in connection with the Excise Policy scam case, officials said. The AAP chief, who arrived at the heavily fortified agency headquarters at around 11 am in his official black SUV, was taken to the first-floor office of the Anti Corruption Branch where he was quizzed by the investigation team, they said. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said the CBI asked him around 56 questions regarding the excise policy case and he answered them all.“I want to say that the entire excise policy case is false. They do not have any evidence that the AAP is wrong. It’s a result of dirty politics,” he told reporters. Thanking the CBI officials for their “hospitality”, Kejriwal said,“They asked me questions in a friendly and harmonious manner.

 

I answered all the questions asked by them.” “The CBI asked around 56questions regarding the excisepolicy, including when and whythe policy was started,” headded. Kejriwal waved to the waiting mediapersons as he left thebuilding at around 8.30 pmafter nearly nine hours of questioning.The Chief Minister hada lunch break during the day, they said. AAP leader Manish Sisodiawas arrested on February 26after nearly eight hours of questioning in the case with officials saying his answers werenot satisfactory. He later quit as Deputy Chief Minister of  Delhi. Senior officials of the agency remained present in the office on Sunday to keep an eye on the development, a normal course whenever a VIPcomestotheagency,they said. TheAamAadmiParty held protests in many areas against the CBI’s summons to Kejriwal and several top leaders were detained by police.Inafive-minutevideo message on Twitter before arriving at the heavily fortified Headquarters of the Central Bureau of Investigation at around 11 am,Kejriwalclaimedthatthe BJP might have ordered the agency to arrest him.

 

The AAP chief, who received solidarity messages from a number of Opposition leaders after being summonedbytheagency,asserted that he would honestly answer questions posed by the CBI in the Excise case as he has nothing to hide. The BJP, which accused Kejriwal of indulging in theatricstodivertattentionfrom corruption,hasdared himto undergo a lie-detector test and said it was not the time for rhetoric but accountability. Kejriwal visited Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial at Rajghat on Sunday morning and was accompanied by his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann and some Cabinet colleagues to the CBI office. While he was being questioned, several senior AAP leaders were “detained” by the Delhi Police while they were holding a sit-in at ArchbishopRoadagainsthis summoning.