Delhi excise policy case: Court summons Arvind Kejriwal on March 16

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 PTIAdditional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Divya Malhotra directed Kejriwal to appear before the court on March 16The 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 PTIThe 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 PTIThe ED had earlier moved a local court seeking Kejriwals prosecution for not attending the first three summonses issued to him in the money laundering case linked to the nowscrapped Delhi excise policy caseMeanwhile 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 EDHe said the notices being sent to him would stop if he joined the BJPThe ED had earlier moved a local court seeking Kejriwals prosecution for not attending the first three summonses issued to him in the money laundering case linked to the nowscrapped Delhi excise policyKejriwal 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 12We 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 EDs eighth summons reported PTIThe ED has filed the fresh complaint under Section 174 nonattendance in obedience to an order from public servant of the Indian Penal Code IPC read with Section 634 of the PMLA that speaks about a person who intentionally disobeys any direction along with sections 1901a receiving a complaint of facts which constitute such offence and 200 evidence of witnesses on oath of the Criminal Procedure Code CrPC for nonattendance in compliance of Section 50 powers of authorities regarding summons production of documents and to give evidence etc of the PMLA reported PTIKejriwals 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 202122So far the ED has arrested AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh party communications incharge Vijay Nair and some liquor businessmen in this case reported PTIThe 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 campaignIt is alleged that the Delhi governments 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 PTIThe 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 PMLAWith inputs from PTI