New Delhi Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday moved a sessions court here challenging his summoning by a magistrate court on a complaint by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for not appearing before the agency for questioning in connection with the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy.
Senior advocate Ramesh Gupta, representing the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener, submitted before the court of Special Judge (PC Act) Rakesh Syal that his personal appearance in front of the magistrate on March 16 would be nothing more than a publicity stunt by the ED and sought exemption for his client.
Mr. Gupta pointed out that the ED officer who summoned Mr. Kejriwal and the one who filed the complaint in the court are different and hence the ED’s complaint violates Section 195 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S.V. Raju, representing the ED, refuted Mr. Gupta and pointed out that the Delhi CM himself had given an assurance to the magistrate court that he will appear before it on March 16.
Mr. Kejriwal’s plea came after Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Divya Malhotra last week summoned him on March 16 in two separate complaint cases filed by the ED. The court had first summoned Mr. Kejriwal on February 7 and the CM submitted that he could appear any time after March 10 as the Assembly session was on. The court had noted that Mr. Kejriwal was “legally bound” to comply with the summons but he “purportedly failed to do so”.
The AAP leader, however, termed the summonses issued to him by the ED as “illegal and politically motivated”. He has been summoned eight times by the Central agency since December 2023.
The case against Mr. Kejriwal is based on an FIR by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), filed on the complaint of the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi alleging multiple irregularities in the formation and implementation of the 2022 Delhi excise policy, which was subsequently withdrawn.
Following the CBI’s case, the ED later filed a case of money laundering. The agency has alleged that the money earned through the “liquor scam” was diverted through “hawala” channels for the AAP’s campaign in Goa ahead of the Assembly election there in 2022.
Former Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh are in judicial custody in connection with the case.
The court will again hear the matter on Friday.
