Court rejects Kejriwal's petition against ED summons

The Rouse Avenue court on Tuesday dismissed Arvind Kejriwal's two revisions petitions against the summons issued by the magisterial court to him on complaints filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

ED had issued several summons to Kejriwal for appearance in the PMLA case linked to the Delhi Excise policy. But he failed to appear before the ED. Thereafter, ED had moved to the court.

Special judge Rakesh Syal dismissed both the revision petition moved by Arvind Kejriwal. A detailed order is yet to be uploaded.

Kejriwal had challenged the summons issued by the magistrate court after taking cognisance of two complaints filed by the ED for avoidance of summons issued to him. He was granted bail after he appeared before the magistrate court.

Senior Advocate Ramesh Gupta had appeared for Kejriwal and he argued that there was no disobedience by Arvind Kejriwal. A person can be summoned only when his non appearance is intentional. He replied to each summons and informed that he could not come due to responsibility, as the chief minister, senior advocate, submitted.

The senior advocate had also argued that the revisionist was not given show cause notice by the ED before filing these complaints. He is a public servant; therefore, a prior sanction was required to prosecute him, which was not obtained, the senior advocate argued.