ACJM Dalal said, “Neither the service of summons through emails has been proved by ED … nor the process of issuing summons to any person under section 50(2) of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) via email has been proved to be in accordance with the law.”

Issuing summons by email is not valid or legal under Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) or PMLA, the court said while acquitting the former CM and AAP Supremo Arvind Kejriwal who was asked by the ED to join its probe just before the general election. BJP had a very high stake in the general election, while the Congress and AAP had joined hands as part of INDIA bloc in Delhi. Sensing the high stake in Delhi, the opposition alleges, Union Government led by PM Narendra Modi has unleased ED against AAP supremo who was then chief minister of Delhi.

Now the Delhi ACJM court has said that ED failed to prove that Kejriwal had intentionally disobeyed the summonses. Additionally, he noted that Arvind Kejriwal was a serving chief minister at that time and “he too enjoyed his fundamental right of movement.”

ED had said that they had issued nine summonses to Kejriwal and had alleged that he had raised frivolous objections and deliberately created grounds for not joining the investigations. Nevertheless, ACJM Dalal has noted that the ED “definitely missed the opportunity” to guide its officers on how the summonses should have been served. He added that even if “for the sake of argument, these summonses are admitted to be proved, the entire process is antithetical to the rule of law.”

Dalal said that the accused was not legally bound to appear before ED, with no question of “disobedience” arising. He underlined that the summonses were neither served personally on the accused not through “extended” or “substituted” modes by observing due diligence.

ACJM Dalal noted that mere absence “doesn’t amount to wilful disobedience”. There was not effort on the part of the directorate to verify why Kejriwal didn’t appear before it.

In a connected, but separate case, a co-accused AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan was also acquitted. He was also alleged to have skipped ED summons. The court said that he was not served summonses according to due procedure. They were issued in haste without even granting him 24 hours to appear before it. The court said that it was “improper” on the part of ED, especially when he had already approached Delhi High Court.

This is just an example of ED’s functioning. After the judgement, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal shared a post on X reading “Satyamev Jayate”. It should be recalled that ED had moved in the court in February 2024seeking action against Kejriwal for non-compliance with summonses in PMLA case that stemmed from a case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on August 17, 2022, known as Delhi liquor scam, following complained by Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena on July 20, 2022. The ED subsequently registered a PMLA case on August 22, 2022.

Kejriwal was arrested in the main case on March 21, 2024, becoming the first sitting chief minister in Indian history to be arrested. Due to election, the Supreme Court of India had given him bail from May 10 to June 1, 2024. He had to surrender at Tihar Jail on June 2. On July 12, Supreme Court granted him bail, but he remained in Tihar Jail due to CBI case. Supreme Court granted him bail even on CBI case on September 13, 2024. He had to spend more than five months in jail. Several other AAP leaders were arrested in several cases impacting the political campaign of AAP in Delhi. AAP ultimately lost in Delhi Vidhan Sabha election held in February 2025.

After Kejriwal’s Satyamev Jayate remark Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said that by writing “Satyamev Jayate”, Kejriwal attempted to project as if he had been acquitted in the liquor policy case, which is still pending in court and Kejriwal continues to be the main accused.

It should also be recalled that Kejriwal did not resign on arrest, and he remained chief minister in jail. He resigned from CM post on September 15, 2024, a day after he got bail from the Supreme Court. Keeping in this mind, Modi government brought the Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill, 2025 on August 20, 2025, which seeks to provide for the removal of a Minister if he is accused of an offence punishable with five or more years of imprisonment, and if he has been arrested and detained for 30 consecutive days. The bill has been sent to a Joint Parliamentary Committee, which has started public hearing in January 2026.

What Modi government wants to do with the leaders of opposition is clear, especially in the run-up to elections in the country. Even on January 8, 2026, ED had raided I-PAC who is doing work of elections of Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, where election is due in April-May 2026. ED becomes super active during elections that derails opposition campaign and helps BJP, as we have seen in Delhi. ED going beyond its power and acting in violation of law is ominous. Opposition leaders can be acquitted, but by that time opposition suffer political damage. (IPA Service)