Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today moved the Delhi High Court seeking quashing of summons issued by a trial court in a complaint case alleging that he gave false information to the poll panel in his affidavit in the run up to the 2013 assembly election.
The trial court had issued summons to Kejriwal in February last year on a criminal complaint filed by Neeraj Saxena and Anuj Agarwal on behalf of an NGO, noting that the Chief Minister had prima facie "willfully concealed" and "suppressed" details.
Kejriwal has not appeared before the lower court as he was getting exemptions from personal appearance. The trial court had on December 24 last year granted bail to him.
Taking note of the chief minister's plea challenging the summon, Justice I S Mehta today issued notice and sought the response of the complainant in the matter. It asked Saxena and Agarwal, the private complainants, to file their replies by August four.
Earlier, the NGO had approached Delhi High Court with a plea seeking quashing of Kejriwal's nomination papers on the ground of "illegalities" in his affidavit.
The High Court had refused to entertain the petition and directed the petitioners to approach a magisterial court.
The NGO, in its plea in the high court, had alleged that Kejriwal had violated provisions of the Representation of the People (RP) Act by submitting an affidavit which had incorrect details of his assets and income at the time of filing of the nomination.
The offence under section 125-A of the Act entails a punishment of six months jail term or fine or both.
The complaint was filed under several sections of the RP Act and the IPC for the alleged offences committed by him before holding the office of the Chief Minister of Delhi.
The complaint alleged that Kejriwal falsely gave his Delhi address so as to qualify for contesting the polls in the capital though he was living at Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh.
This prima facie amounted to wilful concealment, suppression and furnishing of false information, it was claimed.
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