CBI arrests Kejriwal, gets three-day custody

Already arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the same case but in connection with alleged money laundering, the Delhi CM’s bail was revoked by the Delhi high court on Tuesday

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday in connection with corruption charges pertaining to alleged irregularities in the 2021-22 excise policy after a sequence of dramatic developments in court on Wednesday.

Delhi CM and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal being brought out of the courtroom for tea and biscuits after his sugar level dropped, at Rouse Avenue Court in New Delhi on Wednesday. (ANI)

The agency was granted three days to question the CM after the defence counsels pushed back, especially against a particular contention from the federal agency that Kejriwal had ostensibly passed on the blame to his then cabinet colleagues.

Kejriwal addressed the court in Hindi, stating, “A false narrative is being spread by CBI sources in media that I have put the blame of liquor policy scam on Manish Sisodia. I have not given such a statement that Manish Sisodia is guilty.”

Vacation judge Amitabh Rawat, acting as the special judge under the Prevention of Corruption Act, agreed that the Delhi CM made no such remark but allowed CBI to interrogate Kejriwal until June 29. The CBI argued it needed to confront Kejriwal with documents to conclude its investigation by July 3.

The developments came after a dramatic start to the day when, at 10.30am, the federal agency briefly questioned Kejriwal in court premises before arresting him.

In the remand note, the agency called Kejriwal “one of the main conspirators of the criminal conspiracy” and said that Vijay Nair, a former party functionary, was contacting various liquor manufacturers and traders and demanding undue gratification since March 2021.

Kejriwal’s lawyers questioned the necessity and timing of the arrest, noting that the CBI probe is nearing its end. Already arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the same case but in connection with alleged money laundering, the CM’s bail was revoked by the Delhi high court on Tuesday.

CBI special public prosecutor DP Singh told the court that it refrained from arresting him earlier, referring to the period when Kejriwal had been granted bail to campaign for the general elections by the Supreme Court. “We showed restraint.... Now it is absolutely mandatory because now we want to conclude (the investigation) by July 3.”

The agency cited two grounds to press for Kejriwal’s custody — first, it said it needed his custody since the CM distanced himself from former AAP communications-in-charge Vijay Nair by stating Nair worked with ministers Saurabh Bhardwaj and Atishi, and, second, that he had suggested the plan to privatise the retail liquor business was Sisodia’s idea.

Responding to this later, in direct remarks made in Hindi, Kejriwal said: “In my CBI statement, I had said that the excise policy had three objectives: increasing the revenue, reducing the long lines and ensuring equitable distribution. I had called Manish Sisodia and given him these three directions. They (CBI) had asked me, “whose idea was it to privatise? I said it was ‘not mine’.”

He added: “I have not given such statement that Manish Sisodia is guilty. I have always given statements that Manish Sisodia is innocent, AAP is innocent, I am innocent.”

After hearing the CM’s contentions, the court rejected CBI’s claims on CM trying to shift the onus on Sisodia and said, “We have read his (Kejriwal’s) statement and he has said no such thing.”

AAP leaders later seized on this development and targeted the agency for being “caught red-handed lying in court”.

“This is happening for the first time that the judge of the court himself has said that there is no coordination between what the CBI is saying and the evidence it has,” said party leader Jasmine Shah.

“Time and again the AAP has said that the whole case is fake and fabricated. The CBI and ED are filing false cases at the behest of the BJP only to finish AAP and to keep CM Arvind Kejriwal in jail,” he added.

Kejriwal’s lawyer, Vikram Chaudhary, called latest the arrest “sham,” “malafide,” and “the biggest abuse of process of law” since the agency acted shortly after the Delhi CM was given bail by a lower court in the case being pursued by the other federal agency, ED.

That bail order was stayed by the high court last Friday and then overturned on Tuesday. The party said it will challenge it in the Supreme Court.

The CM’s lawyers also said that the arrest was in violation of Section 41 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which allows police to make arrests with a warrant or permission from a magistrate in cases where the police fears it is necessary to prevent a person from committing a further offence or for proper investigation.

Even “non-cooperation with the investigation” was not a valid ground in this case, Chaudhary said.

On this, the court said in its order that “based upon the interrogation report and the evidence collected during investigation”, the court accepted the necessity to arrest the accused. “At this stage of investigation, statement of witnesses and documentary evidence will be considered as it is. The police remand of the accused is therefore, warranted,” it added.

Outside, the party lashed out at the two agencies for “becoming only a mouthpiece of the BJP”. “In April 2023, the CBI interrogated CM Kejriwal for nine hours. After this, the CBI remained silent on this matter till June, 2024, but when it came to know that the trial court granted bail to CM in the ED case,” said Shah.

Kejriwal, the agency claimed, asked YSRCP’s Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, who is now an MP, to provide “monetary funding to the AAP” while assuring support in the liquor business in the national capital. CBI said it had corroboration of these moves from “contemporaneous documentary material”.

According to the agency, Reddy, YSRCP Lok Sabha MP from Ongole, met Kejriwal on March 16, 2021, requesting support in Delhi’s liquor business. Kejriwal allegedly assured support and asked Reddy to contact Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha, who was reportedly working with Kejriwal’s team. The CBI claims Kejriwal also asked Reddy to provide monetary funding to AAP, a fact they say is corroborated by “contemporaneous documentary material.”

K Kavitha allegedly told Reddy that ₹100 crore must be arranged for AAP as upfront money by March 2021, the agency claimed, while also contending the L1 (wholesale) license given to Indospirits, a company in which K Kavitha and Reddy’s son Raghav Magunta had stakes, violated rules and was granted despite pending complaints of cartelisation.

In the past, Kejriwal’s lawyers have questioned the credibility of the federal agencies relying on witnesses who were granted pardons and turned approvers, specially referring to Magunta Reddy.

The CBI has filed four charge sheets in the case against 17 accused persons, including Sisodia and Kavitha. Kejriwal has not been named in any of the indictments yet. They claim that out of ₹100 crore received by AAP as kickbacks, ₹44.45 crore was transferred to Goa during June 2021 to January 2022 through ‘hawala channels’ for election campaign purposes.

(With inputs from Neeraj Chauhan)