Delhi HC refuses to seize AAP accounts

The Delhi High Court Wednesday refused to seize the accounts of the AAP on a plea seeking registration of a criminal case against party chief Arvind Kejriwal and others for allegedly receiving foreign funds.

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice B.D. Ahmed and Justice Siddharth Mridul said it "cannot seize the accounts of Aam Aadmi Party without deciding the case".

The bench said it has not decided the case yet and "accounts cannot be seized like that".

The court's observation came after advocate M.L. Sharma, who filed the plea, asked the court to seize the accounts of the AAP as it was still receiving foreign funds in clear violation of law.

The court also asked the centre to file its response and posted the matter for May 7.

The AAP had earlier told the court that it was the only party whose financial records and other details were open for public view and got donations of Rs.30 crore from Indian citizens only, out of which Rs.8.5 crore came from NRIs.

Earlier, the court had directed the central government to go through details of the money donated to the AAP since its inception Nov 26, 2012 and to take action if anything was found in violation of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA).

The plea named Kejriwal, advocates Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan and party member Manish Sisodia.

It said the AAP and its members were promoted and funded by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the US through various companies and trusts such as Ford Foundation.