Delhi HC to hear ED’s petition questioning Arvind Kejriwal’s release in summons case

Arvind Kejriwal was acquitted by the trial court in two cases filed by the agency in February and March 2024 over allegations of skipping ED's summonses.

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday will hear the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) petition challenging the trial court’s order acquitting former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

The petition challenging the trial court’s order acquitting former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal (Photo for representation)

Kejriwal was acquitted by the trial court in two cases filed by the agency in February and March 2024 over allegations of skipping the federal agency’s summonses during its probe into the Delhi excise policy case. In its petition challenging the trial court’s January 22 order, which will be heard by a bench of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma, the agency said that the findings recorded by the trial court were perverse and legally unsustainable.

The agency, while investigating Kejriwal in connection with the Delhi Excise Policy, had issued three summonses to Kejriwal in 2023 but later filed two complaints, claiming that Kejriwal raised frivolous objections and deliberately created grounds, showing he intentionally disobeyed the summonses.

On January 22, the additional chief judicial magistrate Paras Dalal of Rouse Avenue Courts acquitted Kejriwal, holding that the ED issued summonses to Kejriwal through the e-mail mode, which were not considered under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

The judgment also held that the prosecution had not been able to prove the accused’s intentional disobedience to the summonses.

The court observed that while issuing the summons, the investigating officer stated that he issued a subsequent summons to the accused only when the reason stated by Kejriwal in his response had lapsed, “which showed that he did not verify the ground and merely waited for it to lapse.”

Notably, on February 27, the trial court discharged Arvind Kejriwal, former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, and 21 others in the case concerning the Delhi Excise Policy being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). An appeal challenging the order is presently pending before the Delhi High Court and is scheduled to be heard on April 6.