Today, On 19th March, The Delhi High Court has granted Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and other AAP leaders one week to file their replies to the Enforcement Directorate’s plea seeking removal of adverse remarks, rejecting their request for four weeks’ time.
The Delhi High Court gave time to Aam Aadmi Party leaders Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and others to submit their replies to the plea filed by the Enforcement Directorate, which has asked for certain adverse remarks made by the Special Court to be removed.
During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General S. V. Raju and special counsel Zoheb Hossain appeared for the ED.
At the beginning of the arguments, ASG Raju said there was actually no need for the accused to file a reply.
However, the Bench questioned why the replies had still not been filed, saying that earlier the accused had said they would do so but were now seeking more time.
The respondents told the court they needed time as there had been a change of counsel, but the ASG argued that they were only delaying the matter.
The court finally allowed one week to file the replies and refused their request for four weeks.
The judge said that copies of the documents must be shared with everyone, telling the lawyers,
“Copies sabko mil jayein—jisko nahi mili hai le le.”
The hearing was scheduled to continue after lunch.
During the discussions, the judge also expressed concern about the stand taken by the accused, stating,
“I don’t understand. Here is a prosecuting agency who says the trial court judge has exceeded jurisdiction. I told them (on the last date) even I make such observations. I was of the opinion I need to decide whether the judge exceeded jurisdiction. You (accused persons) said you will file reply. Now you say you need to read 600 pages. You need one more week, you take one more week.”
When the matter resumed post-lunch, the court again granted time to the leaders, including Kejriwal and Sisodia, to place their replies to the ED’s plea.
The judge explained,
“Since I passed an order, if they want to say something let them say. Let it be listed for 2nd. We will hear and then pass a final order. They (ED) can start. Maybe you (respondents) won’t even start on that date. Only reply is being called for 2nd. Nothing is happening on that day.”
The court then listed the matter for hearing on April 2 and directed that all replies must be filed before that date.
Earlier, on February 27, the trial court had discharged all 23 accused persons in the case.
Those discharged were Kuldeep Singh, Narender Singh, Vijay Nair, Abhishek Boinpally, Arun Pillai, Mootha Gautam, Sameer Mahendru, Manish Sisodia, Amandeep Singh Dhall, Arjun Pandey, Butchibabu Gorantla, Rajesh Joshi, Damodar Prasad Sharma, Prince Kumar, Arvind Kumar Singh, Chanpreet Singh, K Kavitha, Arvind Kejriwal, Durgesh Pathak, Amit Arora, Vinod Chauhan, Ashish Chand Mathur and Sarath Reddy.
The arrest of Arvind Kejriwal in the alleged Delhi Excise Policy scam became one of the most debated and politically charged actions taken by the Enforcement Directorate in recent years.
The agency claimed that there were major irregularities and suspected money laundering in how the Delhi Excise Policy 2021–22 was designed and implemented. Based on these allegations, a case was registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
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