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New Delhi: The Delhi High Court is scheduled to hear on Monday Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea challenging the summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money laundering case linked to the excise policy. Kejriwal’s plea is scheduled for hearing before the bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Manoj Jain.
The agency arrested Kejriwal on March 21 after the high court refused to grant him interim protection from coercive action. He has also challenged the constitutional validity of certain provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) relating to arrest, interrogation and bail.
The plea is scheduled to be heard before a bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Manoj Jain. The next day, the court directed the ED to also consider Kejriwal’s plea for protection from arrest, saying it was reluctant to grant interim relief at the moment. Later the same evening, Kejriwal was arrested by the ED and is currently in judicial custody.
The federal probe agency alleges that the accused were in touch with Kejriwal to frame the now-revoked excise policy, which resulted in undue favours to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in exchange for bribes. In the plea, Kejriwal has raised several issues, including whether a political party is covered under the anti-money laundering law.
It alleged that the arbitrary procedure under PMLA was being used to create a non-level playing field for the general elections to “skew the electoral process in the favour of the ruling party at the Centre”. Describing the petitioner as a “vocal critic” of the ruling party and a partner of the India Bloc, the petition claims that the ED has been “weaponised” under the control of the central government.
