ED Moves Delhi HC to Expunge Remarks in Excise Policy Case

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has approached the Delhi High Court seeking expunging of certain observations made by a trial court against its money laundering investigation in the Delhi excise policy case.

The agency challenged remarks made in a February 27 order by Special Judge Jitendra Singh while discharging former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and others in the CBI-probed case.

The ED termed the order a “clear case of judicial overreach”, arguing that the court made adverse remarks about its investigation without examining its evidence or hearing the agency.

The CBI case relates to alleged irregularities in the Delhi government’s 2021 excise policy introduced by the Aam Aadmi Party government. The CBI and the ED conducted separate investigations in the matter.

In its petition filed on March 7, the ED said the trial court made “adverse, sweeping and unwarranted” observations about its probe even though the agency was not a party to the proceedings and the court was examining only the CBI case.

The trial court had referred to the Supreme Court’s 2022 judgment in the Vijay Madanlal Choudhary case, stating that if the foundational predicate offence collapses, the related money laundering case would also fail.

The ED argued that the observations were made without any reference to evidence collected by the agency and were passed without giving it an opportunity to be heard, thereby violating principles of natural justice.

The agency said the remarks concerning its investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) should be expunged as they were unrelated to the proceedings before the trial court.

The ED also cited Supreme Court judgments to argue that a PMLA investigation is independent and can proceed separately from the trial in the predicate offence.

The agency has filed nine chargesheets in the case against 40 accused, including Kejriwal and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia.