Excise Policy Case: Delhi Court Orders ED To Provide Charge Sheets To Accused

The Rouse Avenue Court on Thursday has mandated the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to distribute hard copies of the 8th supplementary charge sheet to the accused by July 31.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, and K Kavitha appeared via video conference from Tihar Jail. The court has ordered that the accused be presented via video conferencing on July 31.

AAP MP Sanjay Singh was excused from the hearing due to his participation in the Parliament Session. Meanwhile, the court extended Arvind Kejriwal’s judicial custody in the CBI case until August 8. Following this, Kejriwal was again produced virtually from Tihar Jail. Special Judge Kaveri Baweja directed the ED to provide hard copies of the supplementary charge sheets to the accused and set the next hearing for July 31. Special Public Prosecutor NK Matta, representing the ED, requested more time to provide the hard copies, while confirming that soft copies would be delivered that day.

Arvind Kejriwal was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court on July 12, after receiving regular bail from the trial court on June 20. Despite this, he remains in judicial custody in a CBI case related to the Delhi Excise policy. On July 12, the court instructed the ED to provide a copy of the supplementary charge sheet to Kejriwal’s counsel and the other accused.

National Secretary Pankaj Gupta represented the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in court. Recently, another accused, Ashish Mathur, was granted bail on a bond of Rs 1 lakh after being charge-sheeted without arrest by the ED. On July 9, the court acknowledged the supplementary charge sheet against Arvind Kejriwal and AAP, as well as Vinod Chauhan and Ashish Mathur. Production warrants were issued for Kejriwal, Chauhan, and AAP, and summons were sent to Mathur.

The ED filed a supplementary prosecution complaint against Kejriwal and AAP on May 17, following Kejriwal’s arrest on March 21. Another supplementary prosecution complaint was filed against Vinod Chauhan and Ashish Mathur on July 1. In this money laundering case, the ED also arrested Manish Sisodia, BRS leader K Kavitha, Sanjay Singh, and several businessmen.

During the hearing, ASG S V Raju opposed Kejriwal’s bail plea, citing evidence that Kejriwal demanded a bribe of Rs 100 crore, which was allegedly used for AAP’s Goa election campaign. He claimed that Rs 45 crore was transferred by Vinod Chauhan to Chanpreet Singh through hawala dealers, who managed AAP’s Goa election campaign. The ED presented evidence of hawala transfers amounting to approximately Rs 45 crore, supported by call records, IT-seized data, and witness statements.

ASG Raju argued that Kejriwal was in contact with hawala dealers, with money sent by Vinod Chauhan and received by Chanpreet Singh Rayat, who managed AAP’s Goa campaign. He referred to Sagar Patel’s statement indicating that three individuals, including Chanpreet Singh, received cash.

Instructions for payments in Goa were given by Chauhan, and a photo of a matching note used for the hawala transaction was found on Chauhan’s phone. Chats between Kejriwal and Chauhan showed their close connection, with Rs 1 crore recovered from Chauhan. The ASG contended that Section 70 of the PMLA applies to Kejriwal, as he is in charge of AAP, a company under this section. Kejriwal is the national convenor of AAP and responsible for its affairs.

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