Delhi High Court refuses to grant interim protection from arrest to Arvind Kejriwal in Excise Policy case

The Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to grant any interim protection from arrest to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in relation to the summons issued to him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the Delhi excise policy scam. .A division bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Manoj Jain said that it is not inclined to grant any such protection at this stage. The Court said that Kejriwal's plea for interim protection will be heard on April 22 with his main petition challenging the ED's summons. "At this stage, we are not inclined to pass any order," the Court said. .Kejriwal was called for questioning by the federal agency nine times. However, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) National Convenor chose to skip the summons each time.He termed the agency's summons malicious and said that the agency was being misused by the government for political motives.Notably, the ED has filed two complaint cases against Kejriwal to make him comply with the summons. The trial court granted him bail in the case on March 16.Kejriwal's plea before the sessions court to stay the proceedings in ED's case was rejected on March 15..Kejriwal then moved the High Court challenging the ED summons as well as Section 2(1)(s) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to the extent it includes a political party within its ambit.Section 2(1)(s) defines a 'person' who can come under the ambit of PMLA.The High Court had on March 20 asked ED to file its reply to the maintainability of the petition.Today, his plea for interim relief came up for hearing before the Court..Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appeared for Kejriwal and argued that ED’s latest summons was issued to him on March 16, the same date when the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections were announced, and the probe agency is being misused to create non-level playing field before the elections.Singhvi contended that none of the ED’s summons clarify whether Kejriwal was being called for questioning as an accused or a witness.“I am not a man who is going to flee or influence witnesses or tamper with evidence. In that sense, the triple test is satisfied… Elections have been announced and I am the head of a national party… I am saying I will answer all the questions. I am ready to appear through virtual conference or answer their questionnaire,” he said. The Senior Advocate referred to certain orders of the Supreme Court as well as the High Courts where interim protection from arrest was granted to people being probed by the ED. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju appeared for ED and contended that the law cannot be different for someone just because he happens to be the Chief Minister of a State.Raju clarified that Kejriwal has not been summoned in his official capacity as Chief Minister or the National Convenor of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) but in his personal capacity.“There is necessity to call him (Kejriwal) for interrogation. We cannot go beyond the law. The law is the same, whether he is the Chief Minister or not… We are calling him not as Chief Minister or chief of AAP but in his personal capacity… A person who has no respect for the law is not entitled to any protection of the law,” the ASG said.Countering the arguments raised by Singhvi about courts granting interim protection from arrests, Raju said that those orders cannot be cited as precedent.Raju further said that AAP is not even an accused in the case and, therefore, Kejriwal’s plea challenging those PMLA provisions which include a political party under the ambit of the money laundering law, is based on mere assumption“This is a figment of their imagination at this stage. If and when they (AAP) are made an accused, then they will get a right to challenge the PMLA provisions but not today… Neither is Mr Kejriwal nor AAP has yet been made an accused in the case. FIR is not against AAP or Kejriwal, he cannot ask for quashing of the proceedings against other accused. He does not have the locus,” Raju stated..The ED’s money laundering probe 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. It has been alleged that a criminal conspiracy was hatched by AAP leaders, including former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and other unidentified and unnamed private persons/entities during the stage of the policy’s formulation.The conspiracy, it has been alleged, stemmed from some of the loopholes “intentionally” left or created in the policy. These were allegedly meant to favour some licensees and conspirators post the tender process.Sisodia and AAP Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Sanjay Singh are already behind bars in the case.On March 15, 2024, the ED also arrested the daughter of Bharat Rashtra Samiti legislator and former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, K Kavitha in the case.