Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AA) supremo Arvind Kejriwal has been summoned by a district court on February 17 after the Enforcement Directorate filed a petition against him in the alleged illegal liquor scam case.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Divya Malhotra took cognisance of the matter and issued a summons to him to appear before the court, Live Law reported.

The ED had filed a complaint against the AAP chief in Rouse Avenue Court on February 3 after he skipped all the five summons by the probe agency in the alleged illegal liquor scam case.

The complaint was filed under Section 174 of the IPC for non-attendance in obedience to an order from a public servant and Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act for non-compliance with summons issued by the ED.

Also Read: Enforcement Directorate raids Arvind Kejriwal’s personal secretary, other AAP officials

While the ED has sought to question Kejriwal in the case related to the AAP government’s now-scrapped excise policy, the Delhi CM has called the summons “illegal”. Questioning the summons, CM Kejriwal has said that he has not been named an accused in the case.

Reacting to the court’s summons, AAP leader Jasmine Shah said, “We are studying the court order and will take action as per the law. We will inform the court how all Enforcement Directorate summons were illegal.”

BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla told news agency ANI, “…Today, Arvind Kejriwal, there is no escaping the law. On moral grounds, you should resign because you have changed your commitment towards your fight against corruption…”

Kejriwal had skipped five summons by the probe agency, calling them “illegal attempts” to arrest him. He claimed that the summons were aimed at preventing him from campaigning for elections.

Also Read: Delhi excise policy ‘scam’: CM Arvind Kejriwal skips 5th ED summons

He had skipped ED summonses for November 2 and December 21 in 2023 and January 3, January 18, and February 2 in 2024.

Three senior AAP leaders – former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh and AAP communications in-charge Vijay Nair — have already been arrested by the ED in the case.