Delhi Police has registered an FIR against former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and others for allegedly misusing public money by putting up large hoardings in the national capital in 2019. The police said this in its compliance report submitted before Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Neha Mittal on Friday. The case revolves around allegations that public money was improperly spent on promoting political messages through extensive hoardings, a matter that has now attracted judicial scrutiny.
The judge on March 11 directed police to lodge the FIR on a complaint that has alleged violation of the Prevention of Defacement of Property Act. The court has listed the matter for April 18 for the next hearing after police sought time to investigate the matter. Aside from Kejriwal, the court had ordered the FIR against former MLA Gulab Singh and then Dwarka councilor Nitika Sharma, for installing "large-sized" banners.
What was the matter?
The complaint filed in 2019 alleged that Kejriwal, then Matiala MLA Gulab Singh (AAP) and then Dwarka A ward councilor Nitika Sharma "deliberately misused public money by putting up large-sized hoardings" at various places in the area.
Money laundering case against Kejriwal
Notably, Kejriwal is currently on interim bail in a money laundering case. Last year on July 12, the Supreme Court had granted him interim bail in the case while referring to a larger bench three questions on the aspect of "need and necessity of arrest" under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Kejriwal was arrested by the ED and the CBI on March 21 and June 26 last year respectively in the money laundering and corruption cases.
The excise policy 2021 was scrapped in 2022 after the lieutenant governor of Delhi ordered a CBI probe into alleged irregularities and corruption involving its formulation and execution. According to the CBI and the ED, irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy and undue favours were extended to the licence holders.