Delhi HC issues notice in ED’s plea challenging Kejriwal let-off over summonses

The agency, while investigating Kejriwal in connection with the case regarding alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise policy, had issued three summonses.

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice in the Enforcement Directorate (ED)’s petition challenging a trial court’s order acquitting former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in two cases filed by the agency over allegations of skipping its summonses during the probe into the Delhi excise policy case.

A bench of justice Swarana Kanta Sharma sought Kejriwal’s response and set April 29 as the next date of hearing. (ANI File Photo)

A bench of justice Swarana Kanta Sharma sought Kejriwal’s response and set April 29 as the next date of hearing.

“The respondent has chosen not to appear despite service. Issue fresh notice and list it on April 29, 2026. Trial court record to be called in digitised form,” the court said.

The agency, while investigating Kejriwal in connection with the case regarding alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise policy, had issued three summonses in 2023. It later filed two complaints in February and March 2024, alleging Kejriwal raised “frivolous objections” and deliberately created grounds to avoid obeying the summons.

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 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) and was thus not tenable in law.

The judgment also held that the prosecution failed to prove the accused’s intentional disobedience of the summonses beyond a reasonable doubt, hence entitling the accused to exoneration.

ED’s lawyer Zoheb Hossain, along with Vivek Gurnani, argued that the trial court committed a grave error, contending that the issue regarding receipt of summons was never in dispute, as Kejriwal had responded to all summons issued to him.

Notably, on February 27, the trial court discharged Kejriwal, former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, and 21 others in the CBI case concerning the Delhi excise policy. An appeal challenging that order is pending before the high court.