New Delhi, 12 February (H.S.): Former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal withdrew his Delhi High Court petition challenging the trial court's order to issue summons for non-appearance before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Delhi excise policy scam on Thursday. His counsel stated the plea was moot following the trial court's acquittal in the matter.

During the hearing, ED's Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju informed the bench that the agency intends to appeal the Rouse Avenue Court's January 22 acquittal order, issued by Additional Judicial Magistrate First Class Paras Dalal, which cleared Kejriwal of deliberately disobeying ED summonses.

The ED had filed two complaints prior to Kejriwal's arrest, alleging willful non-compliance with summonses for questioning in the money laundering probe linked to the now-scrapped excise policy. Kejriwal had contested the summonses as illegal, leading to the trial court proceedings and his subsequent High Court challenge.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar