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A Delhi court cleared Arvind Kejriwal of two lawsuits from the ED regarding his failure to respond to summons in an excise policy probe. The court ruled there was no incriminating evidence against him, and the case is postponed for further deliberation until February 7.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was cleared by a Delhi court in two lawsuits filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) requesting action against him for ignoring the department's summons regarding the excise policy probe, as reported by Bar and Bench.
The ruling was delivered on Thursday by Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Paras Dalal at the Rouse Avenue Court. The ED had approached the judiciary in February 2024 against Kejriwal for his failure to follow the directives issued by the office under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The AAP chief failed to appear before the federal agency despite receiving five notices on various occasions regarding the investigation into suspected fraud.
The ED’s inquiry into money laundering allegations originates from a case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on 17 August 2022, concerning purported discrepancies in the Delhi Excise Policy for 2021-22.
The CBI had officially recorded the matter following a formal grievance submitted by Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on 20 July 2022. The ED later filed a case under the Financial Laws on 22 August 2022 against the implicated individuals for financial laundering. Kejriwal was eventually detained in the primary investigation and was ultimately provided bail by the Supreme Court.
Delhi Excise Policy case: Chargesheet against Kejriwal is a cut-and-paste of earlier filings, argues counsel
Last week, the Rouse Avenue Court reviewed preliminary arguments from representatives of Arvind Kejriwal regarding the potential framing of charges in the Delhi Excise Policy corruption case. N. Hariharan, senior counsel representing Kejriwal, asserted that there is no incriminating evidence against him and argued that the chargesheet submitted by the CBI is essentially a duplicate of previous chargesheets, as reported by ANI.
He maintained that his client was merely fulfilling his official responsibilities as the chief minister.
A Special Judge (CBI) examined the summary of these submissions and, following a request from the defence team, postponed the matter until 7 February for subsequent deliberation. Senior advocate N. Hariharan appeared on behalf of former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, while Additional Solicitor General DP Singh participated for the CBI via video link.
The senior counsel contended that Kejriwal was acting within his official capacity. He noted there is no evidentiary link indicating that the leader requested any funds from the purported "south lobby." Notably, Kejriwal was absent from the initial charge sheet and the subsequent three updates. His involvement was only mentioned in the fourth supplementary filing.
It was further argued that the core content of the fourth chargesheet matches the details found in earlier documentation. The defence labelled it a “cut-and-paste” collection of claims against Kejriwal.
During the session, the senior counsel also discussed the authorisation for additional inquiries. He emphasised that the necessity of further investigation must be scrutinised.
Any new evidence presented should clearly demonstrate the accused's guilt and must be obtained with judicial approval, Hariharan said.
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