n Just ahead of Delhi elections, the Centre has thrown yet another curveball at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) after the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has approved sanction to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to prosecute former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his former deputy Manish Sisodia under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in the excise policy case. The approval came a month after Delhi Lt Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena recommended that ED be granted sanction to prosecute Kejriwal in the excise policy case.
Meanwhile, the AAP termed it a "misuse" of power by the BJP and an attempt to defame the ruling party ahead of the Delhi Assembly polls. The Aam Aadmi Party said the excise policy case registered in November 2022 was "unprecedented" as Kejriwal was arrested without any "sanction". "What we are witnessing is an unprecedented case in the country's history where the then chief minister, and convener of a national party ruling in two states, was jailed without a sanction, only to be granted bail by the courts," the AAP, which is in power in Delhi and Punjab, said in a statement.
Kejriwal has been made an accused in his personal capacity as well as in the capacity of being the national convenor of his political party, the AAP, it said. "It is now coming to light that all of this was being done without a prosecution sanction. Two years after the case was registered, the ED-CBI acting on BJP's orders illegally jailed Kejriwal, and have only now gotten a sanction to prosecute him," it said. "Now they are seeking sanctions which they didn't have. The BJP's misuse of agencies is evident to everyone. This shows the extent of power misuse, especially with elections around the corner," the party said.
Earlier, the Home Ministry, sources have said, has also okayed the agency's prosecution push in the case against senior AAP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia. AAP chief Kejriwal earlier approached the Delhi High Court, saying the probe agency's chargesheet against him and others in the case was illegal because no prior sanction of authorities was taken before filing the prosecution complaint.
The missing prosecution sanction had been cited by the AAP supremo to challenge the PMLA court’s decision to take cognizance of the charge sheet against Kejriwal, Sisodia, and others. But now, with the legality being completed, the stage could be set for framing of charges against the accused in the excise policy scam.
Granted bail by the Supreme Court last year in separate cases filed by ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) relating to the excise policy, Kejriwal, who leads the ruling AAP in the Capital, has a plea pending before the Delhi High Court in which he has sought quashing of a trial court order that took cognizance of the ED chargesheet without prior sanction for his prosecution.
The two leaders are now campaigning for the February 5 election in the national capital. Kejriwal filed his nomination today to contest the election from the New Delhi constituency. Politically, the fresh development is likely to sharpen the BJP's attacks on the ruling AAP in the run-up to the election.
Kejriwal was arrested on March 21, 2024, by ED after he failed to appear before it even after nine summons. He was questioned by ED and arrested after the central agency found that he was not cooperating in the investigation. He was granted bail by the Supreme Court in the ED case on July 12 and in the CBI case on September 13 of that year. He resigned as the Delhi chief minister on September 17.Sisodia was arrested by CBI on February 26, 2023, and by ED 12 days later. The Supreme Court granted bail to him on August 9, 2024, saying, “There is not even the remotest possibility of the trial being concluded in the near future”.
