The Rouse Avenue Court on Tuesday scheduled a hearing for November 28 in a plea filed by Delhi’s former Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal, who claimed he has not received a copy of the sanction order in the Enforcement Directorate case against him.
Special Judge Kaveri Baweja granted the ED additional time to file its reply and set the matter for a detailed hearing.
On November 23, the court issued a notice to the ED in response to Kejriwal’s request. The plea pointed out that during a recent hearing in the Delhi High Court, the Solicitor General representing the ED stated that the necessary sanction had been obtained when the chargesheet was filed.
Kejriwal’s lawyer, Advocate Mudit Jain, argued that the documents accompanying the chargesheet did not include the required sanction.
On November 21, the Delhi High Court had issued a notice on Kejriwal’s plea challenging the trial court’s decision to take cognizance of the ED’s chargesheet in the alleged excise policy scam.
While the High Court did not grant a stay on the trial proceedings, it scheduled a hearing for December 20 to consider the stay application and the plea seeking to quash the trial court’s order.
The ED’s Solicitor General, Tushar Mehta, opposed Kejriwal’s plea, asserting that the proper sanction had been obtained when the prosecution complaint (chargesheet) was filed. Kejriwal, who is out on bail in both the ED and CBI cases related to the now-scrapped excise policy, contends that the trial court erred in taking cognizance of the offence without the required sanction under Section 197(1) of the CrPC, which applies to public servants like him.
The ED has accused Kejriwal and other Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders of involvement in a scam tied to the excise policy, alleging that it was designed with loopholes to benefit AAP members and foster cartel formations. The ED claims that liquor businesses paid kickbacks in exchange for preferential treatment, including discounts and license fee waivers.
The probe also suggests that the scam was linked to influencing elections in Punjab and Goa in early 2022.
