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 skipping the agency's summons in the excise policy case. .Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Paras Dalal of the Rouse Avenue Courts held that the ED failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Kejriwal disobeyed the summons intentionally. 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 Court said. "The complainant has failed to prove due service of summons, Ex.CW1/C3, Ex.CW1/6 and Ex.CW1/C10 against the accused in the absence of a supporting affidavit under Section 65B Evidence Act. Even for the sake of argument, the legal requirement under the rules of evidence is disregarded, the service by email is not valid or legal under the CrPC or the PMLA. The next challenge was to prove the accused's intentional disobedience, which the complainant failed to do beyond a reasonable doubt," Judge Dalal added. .The ED moved the Court in February 2024 against Kejriwal for his non-compliance with the summons issued by the agency under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Kejriwal had chosen not to appear before the central agency despite issuance of the five summons to him on different dates in connection with the probe into the alleged scam.The ED’s probe into money laundering contentions stems from a case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on August 17, 2022, in connection with alleged irregularities in the Delhi Excise Policy for 2021-22. The CBI case was registered on a complaint made by Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on July 20, 2022. The ED subsequently registered a case on the money laundering angle against the accused persons on August 22, 2022..Kejriwal was later arrested in the main case and was ultimately granted bail by the Supreme Court. .Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju with advocates Zoheb Hossain, NK Matta and Simon Benjamin appeared for the ED. Senior Advocate Hariharan and advocate Mohammad Irshad represented Arvind Kejriwal. .[Read Judgement].Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.
