Arvind Kejriwal arrested by ED in excise policy case; AAP rushes to Supreme Court

AAP leader Atishi said they have moved the Supreme Court against Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest by ED and sought an urgent hearing tonight

NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday arrested Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in connection with his alleged role in the state’s controversial now-scrapped 2021-22 excise policy, hours after the high court declined his plea to grant him an arrest shield.

Arvind Kejriwal arrest: Heavy security forces deployed outside Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence after ED raid, in New Delhi, India, on March 21. (HT Photo/Arvind Yadav)

“Arvind Kejriwal has been placed under arrest,” said a senior ED officer, nearly three hours after a team of ED officials turned up at the chief minister’s residence a little after 6pm.

Top leaders of Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) who converged outside his residence accused the ED of acting on behalf of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Delhi finance minister Atishi said the ED’s haste in acting against Kejriwal when the Delhi high court was yet to decide his petition against the ED’s nine summons reflected the political conspiracy. “It is clear that this is just a political issue and PM Narendra Modi wants to put Arvind Kejriwal in jail,” Atishi told reporters after the ED landed at Kejriwal’s residence to carry out searches and question him.

“We have moved the Supreme Court for quashing the arrest of Delhi CM @ArvindKejriwal, by ED. We have asked for an urgent hearing by the Supreme Court tonight itself,” she said in a post on X after his arrest, underlining that he continues to be the chief minister.

“Arvind Kejriwal was, is and will continue to remain the chief minister”.

Kejriwal is the third senior AAP leader arrested in the probe after his former deputy and senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia as well as the party’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh. Last week, ED also arrested Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader and Telangana lawmaker K Kavitha in the case.

His arrest came hours after the Delhi high court turned down his plea to protect him from arrest.

“After hearing both the parties, we are not inclined to grant the relief at this stage,” a bench of justice Suresh Kumar Kait and justice Manoj Jain said in the order. The court also asked Kejriwal why he had not approached the lower court seeking anticipatory bail if he was apprehending arrest.

Kejriwal has skipped summonses on the grounds that they are “illegal”, and because ED has not specified in which capacity he is being called in -- as an accused or witness, as Delhi CM or as national convener of the Aam Aadmi Party.

“Until and unless you attend any of the calls, how would you know what information they want? The summons started from the month of October. If you had apprehension that if you attend their call .. then why did you not challenge? What prevented you to not go to the court below from filing an anticipatory bail?” the bench asked senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who represented Kejriwal.