NEW DELHI: The Rouse Avenue Court on Thursday directed Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to appear before it on March 16, following the ED’s fresh complaint for skipping its summons for the 8th time in the money laundering probe allegedly connected to Delhi excise scam case.
“Even though this is a second complaint against the same person (Kejriwal) with similar allegations, there is merit in the argument of the complainant (ED) that every non-compliance of the summons issued by a public servant would tantamount to a separate offence,” Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Divya Malhotra noted in the order.
The AAP chief has so far skipped eight summons issued by the ED over the last four months. He was called on earlier dates like February 19, January 18, January 3, December 21 and November 2 in 2023. The CM has always called these notices “illegal”.
The central probe agency submitted that each non-compliance was a separate offence and clubbed together in terms of Section 219 of CrPC.
In the order, the judge held that “…prima facie offence under Section 174 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 is made out and there are sufficient grounds for proceeding under Section 204 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 against accused Mr. Arvind Kejriwal.”
As per Section 174, a person who intentionally disobeys the directions issued by the agency shall be prosecuted and shall be punished with imprisonment extending up to one month or with a fine or both.
“Accordingly, issue summons to accused Mr. Arvind Kejriwal for the offence under Section 174 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 for 16.03.2024,” the court ordered.
The ED argued that the AAP leader sent “frivolous” replies wherein he raised certain objections to the summons and deliberately made one or the other excuse for non-appearance to evade the processes.
In relation to the now-scrapped excise policy probe, the ED told the court that its investigation revealed that the said policy was formulated as a part of a criminal conspiracy by AAP leaders with deliberate loopholes to generate and channelise illegal funds unto themselves as well as to the party.