Delhi court exempts CM Kejriwal from personal appearance for Saturday in case of evading ED summons
New Delhi (PTI): A Delhi court on Saturday granted exemption to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal from personal appearance for the day in connection with a complaint filed by the ED against him over non-compliance with its summonses in a money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped excise policy.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Divya Malhotra granted relief to Kejriwal after the AAP leader appeared before the court via videoconferencing and urged for exemption from physical appearance for the day.
Kejriwal told the court that he was unable to appear before it due to the ongoing Budget session of the Delhi Assembly.
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Appearing for Kejriwal, senior advocate Ramesh Gupta told the court that the Delhi chief minister will appear before it in person on the next date of hearing.
The court has adjourned the matter to March 16.
In its complaint, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has alleged that the Delhi chief minister intentionally did not want to obey the summonses and kept on giving "lame excuses". If a high-ranking public functionary like him disobeyed the law, it would "set a wrong example for the common man ie the "Aam Aadmi", the agency said.
From the contents of the complaint and the material placed on record, prima facie offence under Section 174 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) is made out and there are sufficient grounds for proceeding against the accused Arvind Kejriwal, the judge had earlier said.
"Accordingly, issue summons to accused Arvind Kejriwal for the offence under Section 174 of the IPC for February 17, 2024," the judge had added.
Section 174 of the IPC relates to non-attendance in obedience to an order from a public servant.
The ED on February 3 filed a fresh complaint case against Kejriwal for non-compliance of its summonses.
The AAP convenor had earlier written to the ED, describing the summonses issued to him as "illegal and politically motivated". He had alleged that the summonses were aimed at preventing him from campaigning in elections.
VIDEO | Here's what advocate Ramesh Gupta said on Delhi court granting exemption to CM Arvind Kejriwal from personal physical appearance for Saturday in case of evading ED summons.
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) February 17, 2024
"Today, (Delhi CM) Arvind Kejriwal was supposed to appear in person to the summons issued to him.… pic.twitter.com/w88HHej76R
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LIVE | Election Results of five states 2026
New Delhi: The countdown has begun for the counting of votes for the Assembly elections in five states that have captured the attention of people across the country.
The counting of votes for the Assembly constituencies of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and the Union Territory of Puducherry will begin simultaneously at 8 am, and the fate of candidates in a total of 824 constituencies will be decided shortly.
The counting of postal ballots will take place first, followed by the counting of EVM votes in several rounds.
- BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari is leading in West Bengal’s Nandigram constituencyFive-state elections: Postal vote counting begins
- TMC, BJP lead in one seat each in West Bengal
- In Tamil Nadu, DMK leads in 3 constituencies, while TVK leads in 1
- UDF leads in 5 seats in Kerala, BJP in 1, LDF in 1
- BJP leads in 2 seats, AIUDF in 1 in Assam
- AINRC leads in 1 constituency in Puducherry
- TMC leads in 5 seats in West Bengal; Mamata Banerjee’s party maintains initial lead
- Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin leads in Kolathur
- BJP takes early lead in Assam
- Congress-led UDF leads in Kerala
- In Tamil Nadu, TVK chief Vijay leads in the Perambur constituency, lags in Tiruchirappalli South
- BJP leads in 10 seats in Assam
- LDF candidate V.P.P. Mustafa leads in the Thrikkaripur Assembly constituency
- Out of 294 seats in West Bengal, BJP is leading in 14 seats, TMC in 12 seats, Congress in 2 seats
- Out of 234 seats in Tamil Nadu, DMK is leading in 15 seats, AIADMK is leading in 5 seats, TVK is leading in 2 seats
- Out of 126 seats in Assam, BJP is leading in 31 seats, Congress in 4 seats, AIUDF in 2 seats.
- Out of 30 seats in Puducherry, NRC+ is leading in 3 seats, Congress in 2 seats, TVK in 1 seat.
- Congress’ Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury suffers a setback in theBerhampore constituency in West Bengal.
