Delhi High Court Tells ED To Show Sanction To Prosecute Kejriwal, Sisodia
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The Delhi High Court has directed the ED to submit proof of sanction from the LG of Delhi before prosecuting AAP leaders Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia in the liquor excise policy scam case. The matter will now be heard on 12 November 2025.
New Delhi: On August 12, the Delhi High Court on 12 August 2025 told the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to submit proof that it had taken the necessary legal approval (sanction) before prosecuting Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia in the liquor excise policy scam case.
This approval is required by law before a public servant can be prosecuted.
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The AAP leaders had approached the High Court, saying the trial court should not have accepted the ED’s chargesheet because there was no mandatory sanction at that time.
A bench headed by Justice Ravinder Dudeja gave the ED more time to submit the document and fixed the next hearing for 12 November 2025.
In its order, the court said,
“It has come to the notice of the Court that the Enforcement Directorate has since obtained the sanction from the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi and placed the same on the record of the trial court. Learned ASG seeks permission to place this document on record by way of an affidavit. Let the same be placed on record.”
Senior Advocate Rebecca John, appearing for the AAP leaders, told the court at the very beginning,
“The ground on which I am challenging the proceedings is based on the lack of sanction to prosecute the public servant involved.”
On behalf of the ED, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju said that the sanction had already been taken and submitted before the trial court.
Rebecca John further pointed out,
“Till 17 May 2024, six supplementary complaints were filed. Several accused persons were arrested, and these did not include me. Now, my Lordship, the ED filed a seventh complaint where I was named as an accused. On 19 July 2024, the trial court took cognisance and summoned the petitioner.”
She also referred to the ED’s reply to the AAP leader’s plea, saying the agency had mentioned a CBI sanction dated 14 August 2024 and claimed it was broad enough to cover the proceedings under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
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Special Counsel Zoheb Hossain, also appearing for the ED, opposed the plea and said the agency had obtained sanction from the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, and this document should be officially added to the court record. The High Court allowed this request.
Earlier, on 9 July 2025, the High Court had asked the ED to respond to Kejriwal’s plea against the trial court order that upheld the summons issued in the money laundering case linked to the now-cancelled liquor excise policy.
Back in November 2024, the High Court had already issued notice to the ED on Kejriwal’s petition challenging these summonses.
The background of the case goes back to August 2022, when the CBI registered an FIR over alleged corruption in making the Delhi Excise Policy.
The ED also started its own investigation under PMLA, sending several summonses to Kejriwal between October 2023 and February 2024. Kejriwal replied in writing but never appeared in person, which led to the ED filing complaint cases against him.
The CBI is handling the corruption-related part of the case, while the ED is looking into the money laundering angle.
The Delhi liquor policy was introduced in November 2021 but withdrawn in September 2022 after corruption allegations. Apart from Kejriwal and Sisodia, other senior AAP leaders, like Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, have also been named in the investigation.
Case Title:
Arvind Kejriwal vs Enforcement Directorate
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