Delhi High Court seeks ED stand on plea by Arvind Kejriwal against summons in Delhi excise policy case

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought the response of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on a plea filed by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal challenging the summons issued to him in connection with the Delhi excise policy case. .Kejriwal has also challenged 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. .Arvind Kejriwal moves Delhi High Court challenging ED summons in Delhi Excise Policy case.A Division Bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Manoj Jain did not issue formal notice on the matter as ED challenged the maintainability of the plea. During the hearing, the Court asked Kejriwal's counsel Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi why the CM was not appearing before the agency for questioning. Singhvi responded that they apprehend that ED will arrest him and that the Chief Minister is ready to appear if he is given protection."You are citizen of the country, the summons is by name only. Why don't you appear," the Bench asked. If further asked the Senior Counsel what is the common practice by the ED and whether it arrests people on the first summons itself. Singhvi said that AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh were also arrested by the agency in similar fashion."This is the new style," he stressed. .Meanwhile, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju and Special Counsel Zoheb Hossain appeared for ED and said that the petition is not maintainable. Raju stated that Kejriwal is challenging the summons and there are numerous judgements supporting the agency's stand against issuance of notice at this stage. "I am saying notice can't be issued in this matter because he has come against summons... This is only stage of summons... The petition is not maintainable... I will show how this is not maintainable. Give us some time to file a reply," Raju said. After considering the submissions, the Court gave the ED two weeks to file a reply on the issue of maintainability. The case will be heard next April 22. .Kejriwal has been 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..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.