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Delhi excise policy case: Production warrant issued against CM Arvind Kejriwal
On Friday, the AAP chief will be produced physically after Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court took cognisance of ED's seventh supplementary charge sheet.
Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court on Tuesday issued a production warrant against jailed chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, and summons to his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), as it took cognisance of a supplementary charge sheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the agency's money-laundering probe related to the now-scrapped excise policy of the Union territory's AAP government.
Taking cognisance of ED's seventh supplementary charge sheet in the case, Special judge Kaveri Baweja directed that CM Kejriwal be produced physically in the court on Friday, when his extended judicial custody ends.
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Special judge Baweja also took cognisance of the eighth supplementary charge sheet, which names two more accused – Vinod Chauhan and Ashish Mathur – and issued a production warrant against Chauhan and summons to Mathur.
The duo, too, must appear physically and on the same day as the AAP national convenor, the judge said.
On July 4, the court reserved its order on taking cognisance of the seventh and eighth supplementary chargesheets for July 9; the seventh supplementary charge sheet names Kejriwal.
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The Enforcement Directorate, in its charge sheet naming the Delhi chief minister, relied on what it claims to be chats between him and ‘hawala operators’ regarding alleged proceeds of crime in the liquor policy case. The chats were allegedly recovered from the devices of these ‘hawala operators’ after the politician, who was arrested on March 21 after having skipped multiple ED summons, refused to share the password of his devices.
Chauhan, as per the agency, facilitated the transfer of ₹25.5 crore from Delhi to Goa during the February 2022 assembly elections in the coastal state; he is also accused of arranging ‘meetings’ of high court judges and Kejriwal.
Mathur was found by the ED to be an associate of Chauhan. The former is yet to be arrested for his alleged role in the case.
