NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Thursday acquitted former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party MLA Amanatullah Khan for skipping the Enforcement Directorate’s summons in two separate cases related to alleged excise policy scam and Delhi Waqf Board money laundering case repeatedly.
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Paras Dalal granted relief to Kejriwal, saying the central probe agency failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. The court had earlier summoned Kejriwal, saying that prima facie the AAP chief was “legally bound” to comply with ED’s summons in the excise policy-linked case.
The judge had noted that Kejriwal “purportedly failed” to appear before ED and summoned him for the offence under Section 174 of IPC (non-attendance in obedience to an order from public servant).
In its complaint, the ED alleged that the former chief minister intentionally did not want to obey the summons 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 i.e. the Aam Aadmi,” the agency said.
The agency had said Kejriwal skipped summons issued on November 2 and December 21, 2023, and January 3 and January 18, 2024. Kejriwal had termed these summons “illegal”.
Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21, 2024, and was granted bail on June 20, 2024. The ED lodged its case based on a CBI case registered on August 17, 2022 over alleged irregularities in the Delhi Excise Policy for 2021-22. The CBI case followed a complaint by Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena on July 20, 2022. The Enforcement Directorate later registered its case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act on August 22, 2022.
In the second case, the court had issued summons to Khan for skipping summons by ED in connection with the Delhi Waqf Board money laundering case.
The court had earlier held that “prima facie” offence under Section 174 of the IPC was made out and there were sufficient grounds for proceeding.
ED had approached the court alleging that there had been wilful non-compliance to the summons issued to them to join the probe. Khan was earlier charge-sheeted by the ED in a Rs 36 crore property-related money laundering case.
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