Arvind Kejriwal challenges summons asking him to appear before ED on March 16  

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday moved Sessions Court, challenging summons issued to him by Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate on ED complaints. The additional chief metropolitan magistrate has issued summons to the chief minister for not complying with the summons issued by the ED in the Delhi liquor policy money laundering case. The court has directed Kejriwal to appear before it on March 16.

The ED had recently filed two complaints against Kejriwal for not complying with its summons. 

Last month, the central probe agency issued an eighth summons to Kejriwal, asking him to appear for questioning on March 4 (Monday). However, the AAP supremo decided to skip the summons. 

In his response to the probe agency, the Chief Minister said he was ready to answer questions through video conferencing and reiterated that the summonses were "illegal". He has asked for a date after March 12 to appear before the ED.

In a statement, AAP alleged that the central agency's purpose was not to investigate but to arrest Kejriwal during campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections.

The party questioned why the probe agency was not questioning Kejriwal when he said he was ready to do so. It also said there should be a live telecast of the questioning session.

On February 26, Kejriwal skipped the ED's seventh summons, with AAP saying that the matter was "pending in court" and it would be heard on March 16.

The party urged the agency to wait for the court's decision instead of summoning repeated summonses.

The ED wants to record Kejriwal's statement in the Delhi liquor policy 2021-22 case on issues like the formulation of policy, meetings held before it was finalised, and allegations of bribery. The probe agency claims that the AAP used kickbacks worth Rs 45 crore generated via the policy as part of its assembly poll campaign in Goa in 2022.

(With inputs from Pankaj Jain)