Excise ‘scam’ case: Court clears Kejriwal

A Delhi court, on Thursday, acquitted former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in two cases filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seeking action against him for alleged non-compliance with the federal anti-money laundering agency's summons in connection with the Delhi excise policy case.

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Paras Dalal of the Rouse Avenue Courts passed the judgment.

A detailed copy of the court order is awaited.

The ED had moved the magisterial court accusing Kejriwal of deliberately skipping summons issued under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in relation to the probe into the alleged excise policy "scam".

According to the central probe agency, Kejriwal had failed to appear before it despite issuance of five summons on different dates, prompting the ED to initiate prosecution for non-compliance.

The central agency had said that if a high-ranking public functionary like him disobeyed the law, it would set a wrong example for the common man.

The ED's complaint said that the then Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal intentionally did not want to obey the summons and gave "lame excuses".

In response to the ED's complaint, the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) of the Rouse Avenue Court had issued summons to Kejriwal.

After the sessions court refused to grant a stay on the summons issued by the ACMM, Kejriwal moved the Delhi High Court challenging the sessions court's decision rejecting his plea against the summons issued on the ED's complaint.

In addition, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo filed a separate plea questioning the maintainability of the complaints, contending that when summons were issued by one ED officer of Assistant Director rank, a complaint before a magisterial court could not have been filed by another ED officer of the same rank in view of Section 195 of the CrPC.

The money laundering investigation by the ED stems from a case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on August 17, 2022, over alleged irregularities in the Delhi Excise Policy for 2021-22.

Kejriwal was later arrested in the main money laundering case but was released on interim bail by the Supreme Court, which referred his plea to a larger bench for an authoritative pronouncement on the questions of law arising from his arrest and subsequent remand by the ED.

In a related development, the Rouse Avenue Court also acquitted the AAP leader and former Delhi Waqf Board Chairman Amanatullah Khan in a separate case filed by the ED over alleged non-compliance with summons in connection with the Delhi Waqf Board money laundering case.