A Delhi court directed the Enforcement Directorate to file its response on former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea for making available a copy of the sanction required for prosecuting him in the alleged money laundering case based on an excise scam. Special Judge Kaveri Baweja passed the order on Saturday while considering Kejriwal’s application in which he claimed that he had not received the sanction document.
In the petition, Kejriwal has also stressed the fact that during a recent hearing in the Delhi High Court, the ED informed court that at the time of filing the chargesheet, it had obtained the required sanction from relevant authorities. The court issued a notice to the ED and directed it to file a reply by November 26, when the matter is scheduled for further hearing.
The money laundering allegations are linked to a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case that emerged in the wake of Delhi Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena recommending an inquiry into purported irregularities in the implementation of the excise policy.
The ED, along with the CBI, claims that there was some wrongdoings while amending the excise policy, alleging that there was some undue advantage given to the license holders. The Delhi government had unveiled the excise policy on November 17, 2021, but it was abandoned by the end of September 2022 amid mounting allegations of corruption.
