Delhi excise policy case: Court summons Arvind Kejriwal on March 16 after fresh complaint by ED

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Pic/PTI

A Delhi court on Thursday issued summons to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on a fresh complaint by the ED for allegedly evading its summonses in a money laundering case related to the alleged Delhi excise policy case, reported news agency PTI.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Divya Malhotra directed Kejriwal to appear before the court on March 16.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed the complaint before the court on Wednesday, seeking prosecution of Kejriwal for skipping multiple summonses issued to him in the case, reported PTI.

The latest complaint pertains to the Aam Aadmi Party national convenor not honouring summonses number 4 to 8 sent by the federal probe agency under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the ED said, reported PTI.

The ED had earlier moved a local court seeking Kejriwal's prosecution for not attending the first three summonses issued to him in the money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy case.

Meanwhile, in a post on X, Kejriwal hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that opposition leaders were being "forced" to join the BJP by "harassing" them through the ED.
He said the notices being sent to him would stop if he joined the BJP.

The ED had earlier moved a local court seeking Kejriwal's prosecution for not attending the first three summonses issued to him in the money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy.

Kejriwal, 55, has called all the ED summonses "illegal". He had informed the agency last time that he could be questioned via a videoconferencing link after March 12.

"We have not done anything wrong nor are we trying to hide," he had said at a press conference on March 4, the day he was asked to join the probe according to the ED's eighth summons, reported PTI.

The ED has filed the fresh complaint under Section 174 (non-attendance in obedience to an order from public servant) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) read with Section 63(4) of the PMLA that speaks about "a person who intentionally disobeys any direction" along with sections 190(1)(a) (receiving a complaint of facts which constitute such offence) and 200 (evidence of witnesses on oath) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) for non-attendance in compliance of Section 50 (powers of authorities regarding summons, production of documents and to give evidence, etc.) of the PMLA, reported PTI.

Kejriwal's name has been mentioned multiple times in charge sheets filed by the ED in the excise policy case. The agency has said that the accused were in touch with Kejriwal regarding the preparation of the excise policy for 2021-22.

So far, the ED has arrested AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh, party communications in-charge Vijay Nair and some liquor businessmen in this case, reported PTI.

The ED had claimed in its charge sheet that the AAP used "proceeds of crime" to the tune of about Rs 45 crore in its Goa assembly polls campaign.

It is alleged that the Delhi government's excise policy to grant licences to liquor traders allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge repeatedly refuted by the AAP, reported PTI.

The policy was subsequently scrapped and Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena recommended a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the irregularities in its formulation and implementation. Later, the ED registered a case under the PMLA.

(With inputs from PTI)