New Delhi, April 1 The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought the stand of former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in a plea by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) challenging his acquittal in two separate cases against him for not appearing before the agency despite summons issued in the excise policy case.
Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma issued notices to the AAP leader in response to two pleas by the ED against the trial court's January 22 order, and listed the matter for hearing on April 29.
"The respondent has chosen not to appear despite service of notice. Issue fresh notice and list it for hearing on April 29," the court said.
The agency alleged in its complaint in the trial court that the then chief minister intentionally failed to comply with the summons and did not attend the investigation.
It also alleged that Kejriwal raised frivolous objections and deliberately created grounds for not attending the investigation.
During the hearing, the ED's counsel argued that the trial court "committed a grave error" by acquitting Kejriwal despite the fact that summons had been duly issued and received, but he did not appear before the agency.
In response, the ED's lawyer argued that the cases were "independent" and urged the court to issue notices.
The trial court said that the ED had failed to prove that Kejriwal intentionally disobeyed the summons issued to him.
The trial court stated that "Neither the service of summons through email has been proven by the ED… nor the process of issuing summons to any person under Section 50(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) via email has been proven to be in accordance with the law."
The ED has alleged that the other accused in the case were in contact with Kejriwal to formulate the now-scrapped excise policy, which resulted in undue benefits and kickbacks for the Aam Aadmi Party.
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" under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to a larger bench for in-depth consideration.
On February 27, the trial court discharged Kejriwal, Sisodia, and 21 others in the liquor policy case, stating that the CBI case was wholly unable to withstand judicial scrutiny and stood discredited in its entirety.
The CBI's plea against the discharge is pending in the high court.