NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate on Monday moved the Delhi High Court, challenging the acquittal of former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in two cases for allegedly ignoring the agency summons issued in the excise policy case.
The ED’s appeal against the trial court order is likely to come up for hearing before Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma on Wednesday. It claims that “the then chief minister “intentionally omitted to obey the summons by not responding to them and did not attend the probe.” The ED claimed that Kejriwal 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 summons 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 currently on interim bail in the money laundering case, with the Supreme Court referring questions on the aspect of the “need and necessity of arrest” to a larger bench for an in-depth consideration.
In a related corruption case, lodged by CBI, a trial court on February 27 discharged Kejriwal, Sisodia and 21 others in the liquor policy case. CBI’s plea against the discharge is currently pending in the HC. The trial court had discharged Kejriwal and 22 others in the politically charged liquor policy case, observing that the judicial task was not to secure a convenient outcome or to endorse a dominant narrative but to uphold the rule of law.