The Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) supplemental chargesheet against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in a high-profile money laundering case related to the Delhi excise policy is set to be considered by the Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi on May 20.
On Saturday, Special Judge Kaveri Baweja said that the court will discuss the ED’s arguments and submissions regarding the chargesheet on Monday. This ruling comes after Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Naveen Kumar Matta and two other ED representatives filed the chargesheet at the Rouse Avenue Court on Friday.
The Aam Aadmi Party would be involved in the case, the Enforcement Directorate had previously hinted during Manish Sisodia’s bail hearing in the Delhi High Court. The AAP would be co-accused in the money laundering probe pertaining to the Delhi excise policy, the ED has also notified the Supreme Court. Additional Solicitor General SV Raju presented direct evidence against Kejriwal during his appearance before Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta. He claimed that Kejriwal had requested Rs 100 crore in bribes, which had reportedly been utilized for AAP’s Goa election costs.
As the leader of the AAP, the ASG further asserted that Kejriwal is not only directly responsible for the excise policy’s drafting but also liable vicariously.
Concerns over the ED’s handling of exonerating material surfaced in court. Kejriwal’s attorney contended that the ED had selectively used incriminating evidence to support his arrest, claiming that multiple witness testimony that exonerated him had been disregarded.
In the money laundering case, Kejriwal was granted temporary bail by the Supreme Court until June 1st on May 10. On June 2, though, the court ordered his surrender and prohibited him from going to the Delhi Secretariat or the Office of the Chief Minister. In response to Kejriwal’s appeal against a Delhi High Court ruling that rejected his argument against his ED arrest and subsequent confinement, the court granted temporary bail.
In his Supreme Court appeal, Kejriwal contended that the timing of his arrest—which coincided with the announcement of the General Elections—was politically motivated. On April 9, however, the High Court had dismissed his plea, stating that his continuous nonattendance from nine ED summonses over a six-month period nullified any Chief Ministerial privilege grounds and made his arrest inevitable.
The accusations come from Kejriwal’s arrest on March 21 by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a wider money laundering probe into purported anomalies in the since-canceled Delhi excise scheme for 2021–2022.
With major ramifications for both Kejriwal and the AAP as they negotiate these grave accusations in a politically sensitive environment, this high-stakes judicial struggle is still ongoing. The course of this ongoing dispute will be decided in large part by the court sessions scheduled for May 20.
