Setback for Arvind Kejriwal, court denies protection from arrest for now

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Mar 21, 2024: The Delhi High Court today refused to grant any interim protection from coercive action to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in connection to the Enforcement Directorate summonses issued to him in the Delhi excise policy case.

 

"We have heard both sides, and we are not inclined at this stage to grant protection. The respondent is at liberty to file a reply," a bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Manoj Jain said.

The court listed the Chief Minister’s application seeking protection for further consideration on April 22 when his main petition challenging the summons was fixed for hearing.

Arvind Kejriwal, earlier today, filed a fresh plea, demanding assurance from the Enforcement Directorate that no arrest would be made if he complied with the multiple summons.

"The Enforcement Directorate should give assurance before the court that it will take no coercive action against me if I comply with the summons," the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief said in his petition to the court.

Arvind Kejriwal had moved the court in the wake of the latest summons, the ninth issued by the ED, asking him to appear before it on Thursday.

The Delhi Chief Minister has repeatedly refused to appear before the probe agency, calling the summons illegal.

Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate had filed two complaints before the Rouse Avenue Court, seeking Kejriwal’s prosecution for skipping multiple summonses issued to him in the case.

The case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering while formulating and executing the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22, which was later scrapped.

Courtesy: India Today