In relation to the Excise policy matter, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has filed a new appeal in the Delhi High Court requesting that no coercive action be taken against him.
The case will be heard this morning by the Division bench, which is chaired by Justice Suresh Kumar Kait. He has received nine summonses from the Enforcement Directorate on the Excise matter so far.
His attorneys said on Wednesday at the Delhi High Court hearing in the linked case that they are afraid the ED would arrest him and that he is prepared to appear if granted protection.
He has been summoned to appear before the financial inquiry agency on March 21, 2024, as per the ED’s most recent summons in the Excise Case.
On Wednesday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal filed a petition contesting the summons he received in relation to the Delhi excise policy case, and the Delhi High Court requested the ED’s answer.
The court questioned the Kejriwal attorneys, saying, “Why don’t you appear before the Enforcement Directorate?” during the hearing.
Senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi responded by saying that the CBI has also detained AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh. We fear that ED will take him into custody, but he is prepared to come if he is provided with security.
Through a petition, Kejriwal has requested that section (2)(s) of the PMLA be declared arbitrary, unconstitutional, and very broad insofar as it is interpreted to encompass a political party.
Kejriwal’s plea further claimed that the current petition is being filed in extremely urgent and emergent circumstances, where it is being argued that an arbitrary procedure under the PMLA is being used to rig the electoral process in favor of the ruling party at the center, which controls the ED through the Ministry of Finance, and to create an unfair playing field for the upcoming general elections, which are set to take place on April 19, 2024.
The appeal claimed, “That said action is being taken given Petitioner’s role as an opposition leader and partner of the INDIA alliance contesting the General Election to be held next year and his role as a vocal critic of the ruling party.”
“The ED, which is under the control of the Central Government, has been weaponized as a tool to coerce a change in the political landscape of the country in favor of the ruling dispensation by use of such provisions of PMLA for investigation/arrest or threat thereof,” Kejriwal said.
The plea also claimed that the Petitioner (Kejriwal) is the one who was intended to be arrested when the aforementioned impugned summonses, dated February 26, 2024, and March 16, 2024, were issued to the Petitioner.
The current case has been under investigation for the last 1.5 years, starting on August 22, 2022, and up to 6 prosecution complaints with hundreds of documents have been submitted since then.
As a result, summons the petitioner “in person” is a ruse to unlawfully arrest the petitioner, and the current situation is obviously malicious. Respondent already has all the required papers and information.
Given that the Respondent submitted detailed complaints including hundreds of documents, it is obvious that the Directorate of Enforcement already has access to all pertinent data.
Arvind Kejriwal was granted bail by the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of Rouse Avenue Court last week in response to two allegations brought by the ED about his failure to comply with agency-issued summonses. Kejriwal personally appeared in front of the court during the hearing.
The Enforcement Department (ED) claims that it intends to document Kejriwal’s statement about matters like as the creation of policy, discussions that took place before to its finalization, and accusations of bribery.
The ED said that the AAP utilized bribes of Rs 45 crore obtained under the policy as part of their assembly elections campaign in Goa in 2022. The ED named AAP leader Sanjay Singh and his assistant Sarvesh Mishra in its sixth charge sheet, which was submitted in the case on December 2, 2023.
The now-canceled excise policy was intended to “revive the city’s flagging liquor business” by requiring dealers to pay a license fee in place of the previous sales-volume-based system.
An investigation of purported inconsistencies in the policy was ordered by Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena. The AAP has claimed that Anil Baijal, Saxena’s predecessor, obstructed the transition with a few last-minute adjustments that led to lower-than-anticipated income.
In this case, Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh, two prominent AAP leaders, are being held in judicial custody. After many rounds of interrogation, Sisodia—who was the deputy chief minister of Delhi at the time—was taken into custody by the CBI on February 26. Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh was taken into custody by the ED on October 5.