Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo and former Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal has been cleared by a Delhi court in two cases filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seeking action against him for ignoring the ministry’s summons regarding an inquiry into the excise duty policy, he says Bar and bench.
The decision was delivered by Additional Chief Justice (ACJM) Paras Dalal at the Rouse Avenue court on Thursday. The ED turned against the judiciary in February 2024 Kejriwal for failing to comply with the authority’s directions under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The AAP chief has not appeared before the federal agency despite receiving five notices on different occasions regarding the investigation into the alleged fraud.
The ED’s probe into the money laundering charges stems from a case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on 17 August 2022 relating to alleged irregularities in Delhi’s excise duty policy for 2021–22.
The matter was officially registered by the CBI following a formal complaint lodged by Delhi Governor VK Saxena on 20 July 2022. The ED later on 22 August 2022 filed a case under financial laws against the individuals involved for money laundering. Kejriwal was eventually remanded in primary investigation and eventually granted bail by the Supreme Court.
Delhi Excise Policy case: Charge against Kejriwal is a cut-and-paste of earlier filings, says lawyer
Last week, the Rouse Avenue court reviewed the preliminary arguments of Arvind Kejriwal’s representatives regarding the possible framing of charges in the Delhi consumer policy corruption case. N. Hariharan, senior counsel representing Kejriwal, argued that there was no incriminating evidence against him and argued that the charges brought by the CBI are essentially a duplicate of the previous charges as stated FLIGHT.
He claimed that his client was merely fulfilling his official duties as Chief Minister.
The Special Judge (CBI) reviewed the sum of these submissions and on the request of the defense team, adjourned the matter to February 7 for further hearing. Senior Advocate N. Hariharan appeared on behalf of former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, while Additional Solicitor General DP Singh appeared for the CBI through video link.
A senior lawyer argued that Kejriwal was acting within the scope of his official functions. He noted that there was no evidentiary link to suggest that the leader had sought any funds from the alleged “southern lobby”. Notably, Kejriwal was absent from the initial charge sheet and subsequent three updates. His participation was only mentioned in the fourth supplementary submission.
It was further argued that the main content of the fourth chargesheet matched the details found in the earlier dossier. The defense called it a “cut and paste” collection of claims against Kejriwal.
During the hearing, lead counsel also discussed the authority to ask further questions. He emphasized that the need for further investigation should be examined.
Any new evidence presented should clearly establish the guilt of the accused and must be obtained with the approval of the court, Hariharan said.
