Court takes cognisance of ED’s chargesheet, summons CM Kejriwal

New Delhi: A court here on Tuesday took cognisance of the seventh supplementary chargesheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate in the money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy “scam”.

The federal probe agency has named Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party in the supplementary chargesheet. Special Judge Kaveri Baweja took cognisance of the chargesheet and issued summons to Kejriwal for July 12.

The anti-money laundering agency had arrested 55-year-old Kejriwal, also the national convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party, from his official residence here on March 21.

It has alleged that Kejriwal was the “kingpin and key conspirator” of the excise “scam” and was “vicariously responsible” for it.

Meanwhile, AAP’s national secretary Pankaj Gupta accused the BJP of wanting to finish off AAP, which governs Punjab and Delhi, at any cost.

AAP in a statement alleged that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was functioning as a “political wing” of the BJP and claimed there was no money trail in the case. “The ED’s intention from the very beginning of this fake investigation was to frame AAP, arrest all its top leaders and crush the party. The BJP sees AAP as the biggest threat and has deployed the ED and the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) to ensure AAP is finished,” the party charged.

The party said it suspected the intention of the ED’s “mission” was to “cripple AAP and stop its functioning” and claimed it would now proceed to “seize” all properties and bank accounts of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and AAP, causing “huge harassment and injustice” to a national party.

Over the last two years of this investigation, the ED and the CBI have framed a false case in the courts while the

BJP has run a false narrative in public against AAP and its leaders, the party alleged.

The BJP’s Delhi president Virendra Sachdeva hit back at AAP over its allegations and said Kejriwal should have shown moral courage after his party was named in the “liquor scam”.

The AAP said the ED, despite probing into the case for two years, conducting 500 raids and submitting charge sheets, could not show recovery of even one rupee from any party leader. Statements of the co-accused cannot be a starting point for ascertainment of guilt of an accused, said the party.

“The entire case of the ED is built on statements of accused turned approvers, which suffer from grave defects. First, most of these approvers have strong links to the BJP. Second, these persons have made statements contradicting their earlier statements,” it claimed. AAP charged that the ED had selectively used evidence and concealed exculpatory evidence. “While arresting Arvind Kejriwal, the ED intentionally omitted statements and evidence that were exculpatory and indicated his innocence, for no rhyme or reason. These statements were wilfully concealed from the accused persons as well as the court,” it charged. All the statements based on which the ED arrested Kejriwal were taken before July 2023, AAP said.