Delhi HC bench likely to hear Arvind Kejriwal’s plea challenging the nine ED summons

A Division Bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Manoj Jain is likely to hear Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s petition challenging all the nine summons issued to him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the Delhi excise policy case. 

Kejriwal has been summoned nine times by the central agency in connection with the case. He had skipped all the nine summons. 

The ED also filed two complaint cases against the Delhi CM, attempting to make him comply with the summons. Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court had granted bail to the Delhi CM on a bail bond of Rs 15,000 and a surety of Rs 1 lakh on Saturday. Kejriwal’s plea to stay the proceedings in the ED case was rejected by the sessions court on March 15. 

Kejriwal questioned the validity of the summons after skipping it for the ninth time. "When there is bail from the court, why is ED sending summons again and again...ED summons are illegal," said Kejriwal’s party, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). 

The AAP convener as well as his party have deemed the summons illegal. After skipping the eighth summons too, Kejriwal had said at a press conference that the summons are illegal. "My stand has always been that ED summons are illegal. I have written to them many times but they have not responded...I have written that I am not hiding anything and am ready to answer all your questions and you can ask through video conferencing. This is my right...There is no demand from my side, but if they want, they can telecast the questioning live..." he had said. 

The summonses are being issued in connection with a money laundering probe that stemmed from a case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with the irregularities in the Delhi Excise Policy for 2021-22. The CBI case was registered on a complaint made by LG VK Saxena.

Already, former Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia is behind bars in connection with the case, as well as AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh.