Evading ED summons: Court exempts Kejriwal from personal appearance on Sat

A Delhi court on Saturday granted exemption to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal from personal appearance for the day in connection with a complaint filed by the ED against him over non-compliance with its summonses in a money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped excise policy.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Divya Malhotra granted relief to Kejriwal after the AAP convener appeared before the court via video conferencing and urged for exemption from physical appearance for the day.

The application moved by Kejriwal's counsel stated that the Budget Session of the Delhi Legislative Assembly has commenced on February 15 and shall continue till the first week of March, 2024.

"The accused being the Chief Minister of GNCT of Delhi/Leader of the House of the Delhi Legislative Assembly, has to take an active part in the Assembly Session. As such, it is requested that his personal appearance be exempted for today so as to enable him in discharge of his official duties and that the matter be adjourned after the first week of March i.e. after the conclusion of the Budget Session," the application said.

Senior Advocate Ramesh Gupta, appearing for Kejriwal, said the chief minister will physically appear on the next date of hearing.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) didn't oppose the application.

"In view thereof and for the reasons stated in the application, same is allowed. At request, put up for appearance/court bail/further proceedings on March 16, 2024," the judge said.

In its complaint, the ED has alleged that the Delhi chief minister intentionally did not want to obey the summonses and kept on giving "lame excuses". If a high-ranking public functionary like him disobeyed the law, it would "set a wrong example for the common man ie the "Aam Aadmi", the agency said.

From the contents of the complaint and the material placed on record, prima facie offence under Section 174 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) is made out and there are sufficient grounds for proceeding against the accused Arvind Kejriwal, the judge had earlier said.

"Accordingly, issue summons to accused Arvind Kejriwal for the offence under Section 174 of the IPC for February 17, 2024," the judge had added.

Section 174 of the IPC relates to non-attendance in obedience to an order from a public servant.

The ED filed a fresh complaint case against Kejriwal for non-compliance of its summonses on February 3.

The AAP convenor had earlier written to the ED, describing the summonses issued to him as "illegal and politically motivated". He had alleged that the summonses were aimed at preventing him from campaigning in elections.

The anti-money laundering agency has issued as many as six summonses to Kejriwal, the latest on February 14. He was asked to appear before the central agency on February 19.