look news india
New Delhi, May 4 (HS). Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court has today again postponed the hearing of the complaint filed against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for not appearing on the summons by ED. Additional Metropolitan Magistrate Divya Malhotra ordered the next hearing of the case on May 13.
Today, the lawyer appearing on behalf of Kejriwal demanded more time to file the reply, which the court accepted and ordered the next hearing on May 13. Advocate Ramesh Gupta, appearing on behalf of Kejriwal, said that the accused in this case, Arvind Kejriwal, is in judicial custody in another case and they could not take proper instructions from him regarding this. His argument was opposed by lawyer Zoheb Hussain, appearing for ED, saying that Kejriwal has been allowed to meet his lawyer twice a week in jail for legal meetings. In such a situation, Kejriwal's lawyers could take instructions from him. On this, Ramesh Gupta said that there are 20-22 complaints against Kejriwal and it becomes difficult to get timely instructions in every case. Ramesh Gupta sought time to file the reply. After that the court gave Kejriwal one more chance.
In fact, before the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal, ED had filed two complaints in the court due to Kejriwal not appearing on the summons issued for questioning. This case against Kejriwal is of disobeying ED summons. This complaint was filed against Kejriwal before his arrest. Now even though Kejriwal has been arrested, this does not make the case ineffective. A parallel hearing regarding this will continue in the court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Divya Malhotra.
In case of ignoring the summons of ED, the punishment can be imprisonment of one month or fine of five hundred rupees or both under section 174 of the Indian Penal Code. In this case, the court had granted bail to Kejriwal on March 16 on a bond of Rs 15,000.
ED has filed two complaints against Kejriwal. On February 7, Rouse Avenue Court, taking cognizance of the first complaint of ED, directed Kejriwal to appear in the court. Former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia is in judicial custody in the Delhi Excise scam case, while Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh has got bail from the Supreme Court.
