New Delhi: Appear on March 16, court tells Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi : A Delhi court on Thursday issued summons to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on a fresh complaint by the ED for evading its summonses in a money laundering case related to the alleged excise scam, saying there were "sufficient grounds" for proceeding against him. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Divya Malhotra directed Kejriwal to appear before the court on March 16. The judge passed the order on the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) complaint seeking prosecution of Kejriwal for repeatedly evading summonses on January 12 and 31 and February 14. The judge observed that under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the person summoned is bound to comply, and the law enables prosecution of those who don't.

“Thus, as per the mandate of the Act, the respondent/ proposed accused was legally bound to comply with the summons but allegedly he failed to do so. In view thereof, the complaint accompanied by the supporting documents discloses all the necessary ingredients constituting the offence punishable under law,” the judge said. The judge noted that even though it was only a second ED complaint against Kejriwal with similar allegations, there was merit in the argument of the complainant that every non-compliance of the summons issued by a public servant would amount to a separate offence.

Although a total of eight summonses were issued to Kejriwal requiring him to appear in person, the subject matter of the present complaint are the three summonses -- dated January 12 and 31 and February 14, the ED said, terming the non-compliance of each of these summonses as a separate offence and clubbed together for the purposes of the subject complaint.