Delhi HC Issues Notice to ED On Arvind Kejriwal's Plea Seeking Stay On Trial In Excise Policy Case

The Delhi High Court on Thursday issued notice on the plea filed by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal challenging a trial court order which took cognisance of chargesheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against him in the money laundering case linked to the alleged Liquor policy scam.A bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri issued notice to the ED and granted time to reply to Kejriwal'splea.The court today refused to stay trial court proceedings against Kejriwal as of now and has sought the central probe agency's reply on the same. The former Delhi Chief Minister had moved the Delhi High Court challenging the trial court’s decision to take cognisance of the ED's complaints in the Delhi Liquor Policy case citing lack of sanction. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for ED told the court today that sanction for prosecuting Kejriwal had been obtained and said he would place the same on record by an affidavit.Senior Advocate Hariharan appearing for Kejriwal and if the sanction is there for CBI matter or ED matter. He further added that there was no sanction in the ED matter.The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief has sought high court’s direction to quash the trial court’s order and halt the proceedings. This came on the same day when Delhi High Court has stayed the trial court proceedings against Congress leader and former Union Minister P Chidambram in a money laundering case. The high court stayed the trial against P Chidambaram in his plea that challenged special judge taking cognisance of the chargesheet for the alleged offence of money laundering in the absence of any sanction for prosecution of the former Union minister who was a public servant when the offence was allegedly committed. The Senior Congress leader moved the High Court against the trial court order taking cognisance of the ED complaint against him and his son Karti Chidambaram in the Aircel-Maxis case. On November 12, the Delhi high court refused to immediately stay the trial court proceedings against Arvind Kejriwal in a case filed by Enforcement Directorate (ED) against him for allegedly disobeying the summons issued by the agency in the Delhi excise policy case.A bench of justice Manoj Kumar Ohri had refused to halt the proceedings saying that Kejriwal moved the court two months after the sessions court had rejected his plea for quashing the summons issued by the magisterial court in the case.On July 9, a Delhi Court had taken cognisance of the supplementary chargesheet filed by the ED against Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party in the alleged liquor policy scam. Special judge Kaveri Baweja of Rouse Avenue Courts took cognisance of the seventh supplementary prosecution complaint filed against the AAP chief.