ED files complaint against Arvind Kejriwal for not responding to summons in Delhi excise scam

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a complaint against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for not appearing before it in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam, news agency PTI reported on Sunday. The complaint was filed before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Divya Malhotra, who put up the matter for further hearing on February 7. 

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"Fresh complaint case'¦for non-attendance in compliance of Section 50, PMLA, 2002, received by way of assignment," the judge noted. The judge heard the part arguments and adjourned the matter. "This is a fresh complaint case. Submissions heard. Put up for remaining submissions/ consideration on February 7, 2024," the judge said.

The move comes after Kejriwal skipped the fifth summon in the case, saying this was illegal and repeated notices were an attempt by the agency to arrest him. The probe agency had issued a fresh and the fifth summon to Kejriwal after he skipped four earlier summons over the last four months. 

The chief minister has maintained that these ED summons are illegal. The AAP has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of aiming to topple the Delhi government by arresting the chief minister. "We will never let this happen," AAP said in a statement.

The ED has alleged that the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge repeatedly refuted by the AAP. 

The policy was subsequently scrapped and Delhi Lt Governor VK Saxena recommended a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation, following which the ED registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

(With inputs from PTI)