Kejriwal appears before Delhi court through video conference in ED summons case

Arvind Kejriwal submitted that he could not physically appear before the court due to the ongoing budget session and the confident motion in the Delhi assembly

A Delhi Court on Saturday granted exemption to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal from personal physical appearance before the court, after summons were issued to him on a complaint moved by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for allegedly evading the summons issued to him by the agency in connection with the probe in the Delhi excise policy case.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. (File)

Kejriwal, however, appeared before the court through virtual conference and submitted that he could not physically appear due to the ongoing budget session and the confident motion in the House.

“Today, I wanted to come (to the court) but then the confidence motion came. Also, the budget session (of the assembly is ongoing. It will go on till March 1. So please give any date after that,” Kejriwal said.

The court, on February 7, had directed Kejriwal to physically appear before the court, while observing that he was legally bound to appear before ED when summonses were issued to him by the agency.

Senior advocate Ramesh Gupta and advocate Vijay S. Bishnoi, appearing for Kejriwal, said, “His (Kejriwal’s) appearance will cause hardship for everyone, and the budget session is also going on, however, he will physically appear on the next date of hearing.”

Additional chief metropolitan magistrate (ACMM) Divya Malhotra after hearing the submissions of the counsels listed the matter for hearing on March 16.

ED had approached the court through the assistant director on February 3, filing a complaint that Kejriwal had evaded summons issued to him to join the probe in the Delhi excise policy case, and seeking to issue summons to Kejriwal and try him for the offence under Section 174 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for not complying with the orders of a public servant.

Section 174 IPC entails that the person not appearing on the summons issued by a public servant shall be punished with imprisonment upto one month and fine of ₹500

The agency had filed a complaint under Section 190 of the code of criminal procedure (CrPC) alleging that he intentionally omitted to obey the summons and raised “frivolous” objections.

The agency added that Kejriwal was summoned to unearth the role of several people, including himself, involved in the alleged Delhi excise policy, and to trace the proceeds of the alleged crime.

Kejriwal, who is also the national convener of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), has skipped five summonses — on February 2, January 18 and January 3 this year, and December 22 and November 2 last year.