ED summons: Delhi court exempts CM Kejriwal from personal appearance

A Delhi court on Saturday granted an exemption to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal from personal appearance for the day in connection with a complaint filed by the ED (Enforcement Directorate) against him for non-compliance with its summonses in a money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy.

Additional chief metropolitan magistrate Divya Malhotra granted relief to Kejriwal after the Aam Admi Party (AAP) leader appeared before the court via video conferencing and requested an exemption from physical appearance for the day.

Kejriwal told the court that he was unable to appear before it owing to the ongoing Budget session of the Delhi Assembly.

Appearing for Kejriwal, senior advocate Ramesh Gupta told the court that the Delhi chief minister would appear before it in person on the next date of hearing. The court has adjourned the matter to 16 March.

In its complaint, the ED has alleged that the Delhi CM "intentionally" disobeyed its summonses and kept on offering "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. "aam admi", the agency said.

From the contents of the complaint and the material placed on record, a prima facie offence under Section 174 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was made out and there were sufficient grounds for proceeding against the accused Arvind Kejriwal, the judge had earlier said. "Accordingly, issue summons to accused Arvind Kejriwal for the offence under Section 174 of the IPC for February 17, 2024," she had added.

Section 174 of the IPC relates to non-attendance in obedience to an order from a public servant.

On 3 February, the ED filed a fresh complaint against Kejriwal for non-compliance with its summonses. The AAP convenor had earlier written to the ED, describing the summonses issued to him as "illegal and politically motivated". He had alleged that the summonses were aimed at preventing him from campaigning in elections.