New Delhi/IBNS: A Delhi court has directed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to appear on Feb 17 and explain why he has skipped the last five summons from the Enforcement Directorate, which is investigating the alleged money laundering linked to the liquor excise policy scam case in the national capital.

Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has said it is "studying the court order... and will take action as per law".

Party sources told NDTV: "We will tell the court how the summons are illegal."

Last week, the central probe agency filed a fresh complaint against Kejriwal over his non-compliance.

It said he, as a public servant, could not ignore the orders of a government agency.

The AAP supremo snubbed the Enforcement Directorate's fifth call on Feb 2.

Kejriwal skipped the Jan 19 summons too, stating the notices from the ED to be illegal.

He also skipped summons for Nov 2, Dec 21, and Jan 31.

He did not respond to the first as he was campaigning for the Madhya Pradesh election and ignored the others citing various prior commitments, including a 10-day meditation retreat.

The party has slammed the ED's actions as "politically motivated" and has complained that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "sole aim... is to arrest Arvind Kejriwal and topple the Delhi government".

The CBI earlier quizzed Kejriwal for nine hours in April last year. He is not an accused so far.
"CBI asked 56 questions (but) everything is fake. Am convinced they don't have a single piece of evidence," he had said.

However, two senior AAP members, including ex-Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, have been arrested. Sisodia was arrested in February last year and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh in October.

The case refers to allegations the AAP government's revamped alcohol sales policy allowed it to receive crores in kickbacks from cartels, and that this money was channelled into funding poll expenses in Goa and other states.