On Friday, March 15, Delhi Rouse court resumed hearing Delhi CM and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal’s plea challenging a lower court’s summons to him on two complaints filed by the ED for evading its summons in a money laundering case related to the alleged excise scam. Senior advocate Ramesh Gupta, who was representing Kejriwal at the hearing, attempted to explain the AAP leader’s rationale behind ignoring the ED summons and tried his best to portray Arvind Kejriwal as an ‘Aam Aadmi’ in the process.
However, in his earnest efforts to showcase him as an ‘ordinary man’, Kejriwal’s lawyer forgot that the details of ‘Aam Aadmi’ Arvind Kejriwal’s 13000 sq ft ‘humble abode’ renovated at a cost of almost Rs 45 crore of tax payer’s money is all in the public domain.
“Inse (Kejriwal) zayada ordinary aadmi kya hoga? suit tak nahi pehena aaj tak inhone. Wo shirt pehenta hai wo bhi pant k bahar rahti hai. Joote nahi daale. Ye din m teen baar kapde nahi badalta. He is an ordinary man“, (Who can be more ordinary than him. He has till date never worn a suit, nor has he ever worn shoes. He wears only shirt and pant, that too never tucks in his shirt. He does not change his outfits thrice a day. He is an ordinary man), said Gupta, defending Kejriwal’s defiance in court.
Gupta: Inse (Kejriwal) zayada ordinary aadmi kya hoga? suit tak nahi pehena aaj tak inhone. Wo shirt pehenta hai wo bhi pant k bahar rahti hai. Joote nahi daale. Ye din m teen baar kapde nahi badalta. He is an ordinary man.
— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) March 15, 2024
Gupta also alleged that ED was seeking the Chief Minister’s physical presence only for publicity. Questioning why the Enforcement Directorate wasn’t okay with Kejriwal getting an exemption from personal appearance, Gupta said, “Ye kya karna chahte hain? Juloos nikaalna chahte hain? Ye log do din pehle notice deke kehte hain aa jao…” (What do they want to do? They only want publicity in the name of the Chief Minister’s visit. They issue summons and ask him to appear within two days), his lawyer asked.
Gupta further contended that the summons order is subject to revision and that Kejriwal’s in-person attendance would be detrimental to the Chief Minister in such a scenario.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, representing ED, retorted strongly to Kejriwal’s lawyer’s allegations that the probe agency was summoning the Delhi CM only for publicity. “Stop playing to the gallery. we are not doing anything for publicity,” he retorted.
Kejriwal’s attorney further asserted that the Investigating Officer who submitted the complaint with the court was not the same as the officer who had issued the first three summonses, meaning that the complaint is legally prohibited under Section 195.
He contended that in order for the court to consider the complaint, it must determine if the public employee “concerned” has filed a written complaint, as required by Section 195.
In addition, Kejriwal’s attorney, Gupta, claimed that the Chief Minister’s appearance would be futile and cause problems for everyone involved, given that the maximum sentence for the offence for which he was being accused was one month.
Regarding the summons being issued by different officers of ED, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju said, “Kindly look at Section 195. It uses the phrase “public servant concerned”, not the one who issued summons. They (the person who issues summons to Kejriwal and the one who filed the complaint case in court) are simultaneous IOs,” the ASG said.
The ASG also said the provisions governing the filing of complaint cases have to be viewed practically.
“If there is an Investigating Officer today and he dies tomorrow, does that mean no complaint case can be filed? Suppose one public servant retires or goes on holiday. What then,” the ASG demanded.
ASG further clarified that Kejriwal had been summoned not in his capacity as Chief Minister but as an individual required to provide evidence pertinent to the investigation.
To this, Gupta argued in court, “CM is a public servant and Arvind Kejriwal is a public servant. They say he was summoned in his personal capacity but I will demonstrate from the record that the summons were sent to him in a case which was registered pursuant to an excise Policy which came into being when he was CM.”
Gupta calls Arvind Kejriwal an ‘ordinary man’, forgets his 13000 sq ft mansion which cost Rs 45 cr of taxpayers’ money
On May 4, 2023, the images of the sprawling mansion of AAP chief ‘aam admi’ Arvind Kejriwal went viral on social media.
As per a report by Times Now, the mansion is located at 6 Flagstaff Road in the Civil Lines area of the National Capital. Dubbed as the ‘Sheesh Mehal’ of the Delhi Chief Minister, it is spread across a 13000 square feet area.
An investigation done by Times Now Navbharat found that the official bungalow of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in Civil Lines was renovated at a cost of almost Rs 45 crore.
The report, termed “Operation Sheesh Mahal,” said that Rs 44.78 crore of taxpayer funds were utilised for the renovations, raising questions about the Aam Aadmi Party’s commitment to promoting austerity.
What is the case
Arvind Kejriwal has challenged the summons issued to him by Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court before the sessions court in connection with the Delhi excise policy case.
After the Enforcement Directorate filed a new case against the Chief Minister for failing to appear in the court on the summons, the judge summoned Kejriwal to appear on March 16.
Previous to this, the investigation agency had filed a motion in a local court to prosecute Kejriwal for failing to appear at the first three summons in the money laundering case.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has so far issued eight summons to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a money laundering probe related to irregularities in the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 case.
The ED wants to record Kejriwal’s statement in the case on issues like the formulation of policy, meetings held before it was finalised, and allegations of bribery.
Two senior AAP leaders — Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh — are already under judicial custody in the case. Sisodia, who was the then Delhi Deputy Chief Minister, was arrested by the CBI on February 26 following several rounds of questioning and on October 5, the ED arrested Singh, who is a Rajya Sabha member.
