Chief metropolitan magistrate Divya Malhotra acknowledged receipt of the complaint and ordered Kejriwal to physically attend court.Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was ordered by a Delhi court to appear before it on March 16 on Thursday.
The ED had filed a new complaint the day before, requesting that Kejriwal face trial for allegedly avoiding its summons for questioning in the money laundering case pertaining to the allegedly irregularities in the now-canceled 2021–22 Delhi excise policy.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Divya Malhotra acknowledged receipt of the complaint and ordered Kejriwal to come in person for court. Prior to this, Kejriwal was ordered to appear in court on March 16 in relation to an additional ED complaint that was submitted on February 3.
According to the ED, Kejriwal is not legally entitled to know if he is being called as a witness or an accused person. The additional solicitor general, SV Raju, argued on behalf of ED, saying, “It is a wilful and intentional disobedience to the summons, making out an offence under Section 174 [disregarding a legal order] of the IPC [Indian Penal Code]. The grounds imposed by him [Kejriwal] for not complying with the summons are absurd and vindictive and therefore, clearly the offence is made out.”
He cited Kejriwal’s responses to the ED summons, stating that it is unusual for someone being called to inquire as to whether they are being called as a witness, suspect, or accused. It seems as though the subject is questioning the investigating officer rather than the other way around.Which clause requires him to be aware of the job that he is being called to? Raju informed the court, “He wants information that cannot be disclosed.” He went on to say that Kejriwal’s refusal to cooperate with the probe is impeding it.
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The court ordered Kejriwal to appear in person on February 7 in response to the ED’s initial complaint. According to the court, he had a legal obligation to show up before ED at the time of the summons. Kejriwal had ignored five summonses by then, dating back to November 2.
Kejriwal made a virtual appearance in court on February 17. He stated that because of the ongoing budget process, he was unable to physically appear. He has since ignored three additional summonses. In a letter to the agency on Monday, Kejriwal stated that he would be available to respond to its inquiries through video conference after March 12.
In its initial complaint, the ED accused Kejriwal of purposefully disregarding the summons and bringing up “frivolous” objections. According to the agency, Kejriwal was called in to investigate the excise policy’s part in which he and other individuals were involved, as well as to track down the proceeds of the purported crime.
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