Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal appears in ED case court

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday appeared before the court in the capital city in the Enforcement Directorate summons case. 

The Rouse Avenue Court granted him bail in the case filed by the agency for skipping its summons. In the last hearing, Kejriwal appeared before the court via video conferencing, and this time, he appeared physically.

The Enforcement Directorate filed two complaints against Kejriwal for disobeying their summonses to join the probe in the Delhi excise policy case. They want Arvind Kejriwal’s statement on the policy formulation, the meetings held before its finalisation, and the bribery allegations.

Kejriwal skipped the summonses and stated that they were illegal and politically motivated.

The court directed him (Arvind Kejriwal) to furnish a bond and surety bond for the sum of ₹50,000. Both bonds were furnished, and Kejriwal was allowed to go. After that, we moved an application for supply of copies under 207 and 91 CrPC, for which reply and arguments, the date is fixed for April 1.

Advocate Ramesh Gupta told ANI.

The judge declined to suspend the summonses on Friday. Kejriwal had stated that he had never disobeyed on purpose and that he had always given valid explanations for his absences.

As of right now, the Delhi excise policy case has six charge sheets filed. The AAP leader, Sanjay Singh, and his assistant, Sarvesh Mishra, were named by the ED in its sixth charge sheet, which also stated that the AAP utilised ₹45 crore in bribes obtained under the policy to support its campaign for the Goa assembly elections in 2022.

The party claims that the Centre wants the Enforcement Directorate to arrest Arvind Kejriwal so that he can not campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh are in jail over similar charges.

Related: Arvind Kejriwal To Face ED Summons Virtually After March 12