Former Delhi CM acquitted in ED cases over skipping summonses

A Delhi court acquitted former CM Arvind Kejriwal of skipping ED summons in the excise policy case, citing legal and procedural flaws in the prosecution.

NEW DELHI

The judgment was delivered by additional chief judicial magistrate Paras Dalal of Rouse Avenue Courts. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A Delhi court on Thursday acquitted former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in two cases filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) over allegations of skipping the federal agency’s summonses during its probe into the Delhi excise policy case.

The judgment was delivered by additional chief judicial magistrate Paras Dalal of Rouse Avenue Courts. The court held that the ED issued summonses to Kejriwal through the e-mail mode, which did not stand the test of law under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC)

The judgment read, “There are procedural, legal and factual challenges to the complainant’s case, which do not allow this court to arrive at a conclusion of culpability of the accused”.

The judgment also held that the prosecution had not been able to prove the accused’s intentional disobedience to the summonses in question, beyond a reasonable doubt, hence entitling the accused to be exonerated.

The federal agency said that Kejriwal, who was being investigated by the ED in connection with the Delhi Excise Police case along with multiple other Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders, was issued three summonses, all in 2023. The prosecution, in their two complaints, claimed that Kejriwal, instead of appearing before the agency, raised frivolous objections and deliberately created grounds that clearly show that he intentionally did not want to obey the summons.

Charge sheets were filed in the cases in February 2024 and subsequently, a notice of accusation was served on the accused in December 2024. The court noted that the officers who served Kejriwal with the summonses showed a lack of understanding of the penal provisions of PMLA, as evidence showed that, in Kejriwal’s case, imposition of a penalty for non-appearance to summonses would suffice.

The court observed that while issuing the said summons to the accused, the investigating officer stated in his deposition 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”.

The court said, “The ED did not taken steps to determine whether the reasons were genuine, to communicate to the accused that his reasons were false and bogus, and to inform the accused that his reasons were rejected and he was thus in disobedience of the summons”.

The former CM was represented by senior advocate Rebecca John while the prosecution was led by additional solicitor general SV Raju and special counsel Zoheb Hossain.

The ED’s probe into money laundering contentions arises from a case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation on August 17, 2022, in connection with alleged irregularities in the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22.

In a similar non-appearance of summons case lodged by the ED in connection with the Delhi Waqf Board money laundering case, the same court acquitted AAP’s Okhla legislator Amanatullah Khan, noting that the ED’s case did not show any prima facie proof that the summons were duly served on the accused or that the accused intentionally disobeyed the summons.

Responding to the court’s verdict on Thursday, Kejriwal posted on X, “Satyameva Jayate.” (truth alone triumphs)

However, this drew a strong reaction from the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kappor said, “The BJP strongly objects to Mr Kejriwal writing ‘Satyamev Jayate’ after the dismissal of two summons-related cases on technical grounds.”