Excise scam case: Kejriwal moves sessions court challenging summons

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has moved a sessions court here challenging the summons issued to him by a lower court on two complaints filed by the Enforcement Directorate for evading its summons in a money laundering case related to the alleged excise scam.

Additional Sessions Judge Rakesh Syal is likely to hear Kejriwal's applications later in the day.

Kejriwal moved the sessions court against orders passed by Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Divya Malhotra, who has directed Kejriwal to appear before the court on March 16.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had filed two complaints before the magisterial court seeking prosecution of Kejriwal for skipping multiple summons issued to him in the case.

The latest complaint pertains to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor not honouring summons number four to eight sent by the federal probe agency under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the ED said.

The ED had earlier moved the magisterial court seeking Kejriwal's prosecution for not attending the first three summons issued to him in the money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy.

The court of ACMM Malhotra has listed the matter (regarding summons number one to three) for hearing on March 16 along with the other complaint.

Kejriwal has till date skipped eight summons issued by the agency, the ED said.