NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s response on a plea filed by the Enforcement Directorate challenging his acquittal in two cases related to allegedly evading summons in the alleged liquor policy scam.
Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma issued notice to Kejriwal, directing him to file his response to the ED’s petition by April 29, the next date of hearing. On Monday, the ED moved the HC challenging the acquittal of the former chief minister in the two cases.
The ED’s appeal against the trial court order has claimed that Kejriwal “intentionally omitted to obey them (summonses) by not responding to summonses and did not attend the probe.”
The agency claimed that he raised “frivolous objections” and deliberately created grounds for not attending the probe. The agency has challenged the trial court’s January 22 decision, dismissing the case on the ground that the ED failed to prove that Kejriwal “intentionally disobeyed” the summonses issued to him. The ED had filed the case alleging that there had been “wilful non-compliance” with the summons issued to Kejriwal to join the probe.
Kejriwal is presently on interim bail in the money laundering case, with the Supreme Court referring questions on the aspect of the “need and necessity of arrest” under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to a larger bench for an in-depth consideration.
In a related corruption case, lodged by the CBI, a trial court on February 27 discharged Kejriwal, Sisodia and 21 others in the liquor policy case. The CBI’s plea against the discharge is currently pending in the high court.
The court observed that the judicial task was not to secure a convenient outcome or to endorse a dominant narrative but to uphold the rule of law.