A court here on Tuesday summoned chief minister Arvind Kejriwal as an accused in connection with a case filed against him for allegedly furnishing false information in an affidavit filed in the run-up
A court here on Tuesday summoned chief minister Arvind Kejriwal as an accused in connection with a case filed against him for allegedly furnishing false information in an affidavit filed in the run-up to 2013 Assembly polls. The court noted that Mr Kejriwal had prima facie wilfully concealed and suppressed the details.
“There is sufficient ground to proceed against him on the allegations that he had concealed his correct address and suppressed the market value of his property in his affidavit filed before the Election Commission,” the court noted and asked Mr Kejriwal to appear before it on July 30.
“There is sufficient material on record to summon accused Arvind Kejriwal for offences punishable under Sections 31 and 125-A of the Representation of the People Act and Section 177 of Indian Penal Code committed by him before holding the office of chief minister of Delhi. Thus let summons be issued to accused Arvind Kejriwal, returnable on July 30,” the court said.
The court said that the allegation against Mr Kejriwal that he falsely gave a Delhi address so as to qualify for contesting the polls in the capital while he was living at Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, “prima facie amounts to wilful concealment and suppression and also furnishing of false information and thus there is sufficient ground for proceeding against the accused Arvind Kejriwal under Section 31 of RP Act.”
“The factum of concealment of proper address by giving improper address so that the proper/correct address remains untraceable and also giving improper valuation of the said same property prima facie amounts to wilful concealment and suppression and also furnishing of false information and thus there is sufficient ground for proceeding against accused Arvind Kejriwal under Section 125-A of the RP Act and Section 177 (furnishing false information) of IPC,” the court said. The court passed its order on the criminal complaint filed by Neeraj Saxena on behalf of the NGO, Maulik Bharat Trust, through advocate Rahul Raj Malik.
The offence under Section 125-A of the RP Act entails a punishment of six-month imprisonment and/or fine or both. Earlier, the NGO had approached the Delhi high court with a plea seeking quashing of Mr Kejriwal’s nomination papers on the grounds of “illegalities” in his affidavit. The high court had refused to entertain the plea and directed the petitioners to approach a magisterial court. The NGO in its petition before the high court had alleged that Mr Kejriwal violated provisions of the RP Act by submitting an affidavit which had incorrect details of his assets and income at the time of the filing of the nomination.
