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Arvind Kejriwal
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The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued a fresh notice to AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal on pleas by the ED challenging his acquittal in two separate cases lodged against him for not appearing before the agency despite summonses issued in the excise policy case. Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma noted that according to the registry, the earlier notice issued to the former chief minister had not been served. The investigating agency's counsel said notice was issued to Kejriwal on April 1 but no one has entered an appearance on his behalf. "Registry reports that (he is) not served. I will issue fresh notice. Respondent has not been served," the judge said, and listed the matter for hearing on July 22. The cases stem from the ED's complaint to the trial court that the then chief minister intentionally disobeyed the summonses issued to him by not joining the probe. It also alleged that Kejriwal raised frivolous objections and deliberately created grounds for not attending the probe. In the hi
AAP leader Manish Sisodia on Tuesday wrote a letter to Delhi High Court Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma, saying that he will also not pursue his matter in the excise case in her court. This comes a day after party chief Arvind Kejriwal similarly decided to neither appear in person or appoint any lawyer for his case in Justice Sharma's court. "No lawyer will appear on my behalf either. Your children's future is in the hands of Tushar Mehta," Sisodia said. I do not expect justice; there is no path left except Satyagraha, he added. On Monday, Kejriwal also wrote a letter to the high court judge after his plea seeking the recusal of Justice Sharma was rejected on April 20.
Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal has written to Delhi High Court Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma, saying he will not appear in the excise case personally or through a lawyer before her, the party said on Monday. "My hope of getting justice from Justice Swarana Kanta has been broken. Therefore, I have decided to follow Mahatma Gandhi's path of Satyagraha," Kejriwal wrote in the letter. He further said he has made the decision by listening to the voice of his conscience. The former Delhi chief minister added that he will reserve the right to approach the Supreme Court to appeal against Justice Sharma's decision.
Defected AAP MP Swati Maliwal on Saturday alleged that her former party had "strayed far" from its original principles, and its leader Arvind Kejriwal is no longer the same. Barely a year after losing power to the BJP in Delhi, AAP suffered its greatest jolt on Friday when seven of its Rajya Sabha MPs, including Raghav Chadha and Maliwal, quit the party. The other defectors were Sandeep Pathak, a key face of the party organisation, former cricketer Harbhajan Singh, Ashok Mittal, Rajinder Gupta and Vikram Sahney. Maliwal, who joined the BJP after defecting, praised the "decisive and strong leadership" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "I left my home, lived in slums for seven years, quit my job and supported every movement. But when I tried to file an FIR after being assaulted, I was beaten up at Kejriwal's residence by his aide," Maliwal told PTI Videos. She claimed that when she tried to pursue the complaint, she was "threatened and pressured" to withdraw it. "For two years, I wa
Social activist Anna Hazare has said Raghav Chadha and six other Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha members would not have quit the party had it followed the "right" path. "Everyone has the right to hold an opinion in a democracy. They (Chadha and others) must have faced some trouble, which is why they left," Hazare told reporters on Friday in Ahilyanagar district of Maharashtra. AAP Rajya Sabha members Raghav Chadha and Sandeep Pathak addressed a joint press conference in Delhi on Friday, announcing their exit from the Arvind Kejriwal-led party to join the BJP. Chadha claimed that nearly two-thirds of AAP's Rajya Sabha members had quit the party and would function as a separate faction. "It is their (AAP leadership's) fault. Had that party followed the right way, they would not have left," Hazare said. Hazare reiterated that Chadha and others must have faced difficulties within AAP, and that is why they left. "Had the party gone in the right direction, they would not have quit the
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said on Friday that the exodus of seven Rajya Sabha MPs of the AAP is a "direct blow" to the "dictatorship" of party supremo Arvind Kejriwal. The AAP suffered a jolt on Friday as seven of its Rajya Sabha MPs, including Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal and Sandeep Pathak, quit the party, with Chadha asserting that the Arvind Kejriwal-led party had strayed from its principles. Harbhajan Singh, Rajendra Gupta, Vikram Sahni and Swati Maliwal were the other four parliamentarians in the group of seven. In a post on X, CM Rekha Gupta said the AAP was founded with the slogan of 'inquilab', but was now ending in mistrust and separation. "Now only corrupt people are there in your party and not the common man," she said. The AAP termed the resignation of the seven MPs a "betrayal of Punjab" and accused the BJP of engineering the split by using the fear of central agencies.
As the Enforcement Directorate conducted raids against AAP leader Ashok Kumar Mittal, the party's national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said the BJP has started its "preparations" for the upcoming poll in Punjab by using central agencies. The ED on Wednesday conducted raids at the business and residential premises of AAP Rajya Sabha MP Ashok Kumar Mittal in Punjab and Haryana as part of a Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), officials said. In a post on X in Hindi, Kejriwal said, "Modi ji has started preparations for the elections in Punjab. But, the people of Punjab will not tolerate this... they would give a befitting reply to the BJP." About 10 locations in Jalandhar and Gurugram are being covered under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). This includes the premises of the Phagwara-based Lovely Professional University (LPU) and two linked educational institutions named Tetr College of Business and Masters Union College of Business located in .
Former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and other discharged accused in the liquor policy case cannot seek the recusal of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma merely because she attended a "legal seminar" by the Akhil Bharatiya Adhivakta Parishad as it does not demonstrate any ideological association, the CBI has told the Delhi High Court. In a reply filed to applications by the AAP leader and others seeking the judge's recusal from hearing the Central Bureau of investigation's (CBI) challenge to the trial court's discharge order, the agency highlighted that several sitting Supreme Court judges, including Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, and high court judges, have attended functions by the RSS-affiliated confederation of lawyers, and if their plea is accepted, all of them would have to recuse from hearing any case involving politically exposed persons as accused. The CBI asserted that making "unscrupulous" and "sweeping" allegations of bias over attending legal seminars, which had no ...
The Delhi High Court on Thursday gave a final opportunity to former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia and others to respond to a plea by the Enforcement Directorate to expunge "unwarranted" remarks made against it by the trial court while discharging them in the liquor policy case. Observing that none of the respondents, except one, filed their responses even after seeking time on the last date of hearing, Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma said the court will hear arguments in the case on April 22. "Last opportunity is granted to file reply, failing which the right to file reply will close. Arguments will be heard on the next date of hearing. List on April 22," the judge said. Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the agency, said except Vinod Chauhan, others have chosen not to file their reply to the petition. On March 19, the court granted time till April 2 to Kejriwal and other respondents to reply to the ED's plea to expunge the remarks against
The Delhi High Court on Monday granted time to former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia and 21 others to respond to the CBI's petition challenging their discharge in the liquor policy case. Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma listed the CBI's petition assailing the trial court's decision for hearing on April 6. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the agency, said the trial court's "perverse" order "cannot remain on record even for a second more than necessary" and that Kejriwal and others should not be given more than a week's time to file their response. Reply is not necessary when the entire record of the trial court was available, he said. Senior counsel appearing for the AAP leader informed that they have already approached the Supreme Court challenging the matter. "I have not received any stay yet.. till the court gets an order staying the proceedings, the case has to proceed," the court observed. The senior lawyers appearing for the accused
The Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday announced its first list of 14 candidates, including its state vice-president Anurupa Dekaraja, for the Assam assembly elections to be held on April 9. All the constituencies included on the list are located in the Brahmaputra valley. Dekaraja will contest from the Guwahati Central seat and Renuka Timungpi from Bokajan. Among other candidates named on the list, issued by AAP state prabhari Rajesh Sarma, are Achyut Das (Naoboicha), Tapan Gogoi (Sivasagar), Zahidul Islam Khan (Chenga), Ranjeet Boro (Nadua), Pallav Saikia (Titabor) and Jinna Amir Hussain (East Goalpara). The AAP, which is yet to open its account in the Assam assembly, will be contesting the polls here without an alliance with any other opposition party. In the current 126-member assembly, the ruling BJP's strength is 64, while its allies AGP has nine MLAs, UPPL has seven, and the BPF has three members. In the opposition camp, the Congress has 26 MLAs, AIUDF has 15 members, and the CPI(M
The Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, D K Upadhyaya, has declined a request by former chief minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal and others to transfer CBI's plea against their discharge in the excise policy case from Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma to another judge. According to sources privy to the development, Justice Upadhyaya opined that Justice Sharma was hearing CBI's petition against the trial court's decision in accordance with the roster, and there was no reason to pass an order of transfer on the administrative side. A call for recusal has to be taken by the judge concerned, the chief justice clarified. The CBI's petition is listed for hearing before Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma on Monday. On March 11, Kejriwal, AAP leader Manish Sisodia, along with other accused in the excise policy case, made a representation to Chief Justice Upadhyaya to transfer CBI's plea against their discharge from Justice Sharma to another "impartial" judge. In the representation, Kejriwal ..
The Delhi Assembly has written to former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal declining his request for live streaming of the proceedings of the Privileges Committee which has summoned the AAP chief on Friday in a matter related to the 'Phaansi Ghar'. The letter noted the Privileges Committee chairperson's surprise over Kejriwal's "ignorance in this matter" even though he has been a member of the assembly for over 10 years and has attended several sittings of the Privilege Committee. "I am directed by the Chairperson to inform that the proceedings of the Committee of Privileges are confidential and the Rules of Procedure do not permit for their live streaming," the Delhi Assembly Secretariat's letter read. Further, there is no precedence of the sitting of the Committee of Privileges being telecast in the Parliament or other states, added the letter, which was made public on Friday. "The Chairperson has also expressed his surprise over your ignorance in this matter in spite of being a for
Challenging the special court order discharging former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and others in the excise policy case, the CBI has submitted to the Delhi High Court that the order was based "on a selective reading of the prosecution case, disregarding the material showing the culpability of the accused", and was "patently illegal". In its 974-page petition before the high court, the CBI said the Special Judge essentially conducted a mini-trial and "spent 4 months' time reading only the file of the case", which shows appreciation of the evidence by the judge which "otherwise is not permitted at this stage". The special judge dealt with separate limbs of conspiracy in isolation rather than assessing the actions of the accused cumulatively, the agency also said. Terming the order "perverse", the agency said it suffers from "errors apparent on the face", is based on "misreading" of facts and violates the Supreme Court's assertions related to the stage when charges are to be .
Forty-eight hours after being discharged by a Delhi court in the liquor policy case, AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday, claiming that the countdown of the BJP's removal from power has begun. Addressing the party's rally at Jantar Mantar here, Kejriwal accused the prime minister and Shah of conspiring to frame him in the excise policy case and said that the court in a recent "historic" judgement proved that he was "Kattar Imandar" (hardcore honest person). A trial court on Friday granted the relief to Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia and 21 others in the case and criticised the CBI, saying the charge sheet "suffers from internal contradictions, striking at the root of conspiracy theory." Addressing the gathering of party leaders and workers from several states, Kejriwal alleged that the prime minister feared everyone and asserted that when a "tyrant" is scared, it signals the end of his ...
AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal will hold a public meeting at Jantar Mantar on Sunday, his first since he was discharged from the liquor policy case by a court. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had earlier on Saturday claimed that police was refusing permission for the rally. Later, in a late-night press conference, AAP's Delhi state president Saurabh Bharadwaj, however, said police have granted permission and the rally will proceed as scheduled. "Arvind Kejriwal, along with the entire leadership, will address a public meeting at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. Today, the Delhi Police had said once that this meeting could not take place. After this, AAP leaders held discussions with senior officials of the Delhi Police," Bhardwaj said. Now, as per the scheduled programme, the party's national convenor Kejriwal will address the gathering at Jantar Mantar, he added. Responding to AAP leaders' claim that permission was initially being denied, Delhi Police officials said earlier that a decisio