ED gets six-day custody of Arvind Kejriwal, says he's kingpin
Delhi CM Kejriwal remanded to ED custody till March 28 over excise policy involvement, intensifying political turmoil in Delhi.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was on Friday remanded to the custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) till March 28 following his arrest the previous day over his alleged involvement in the state’s controversial 2021–22 excise policy — of which ED described the CM as the “kingpin” and “key conspirator” — marking yet another tumultuous day in Delhi’s political landscape.
Special judge Kaveri Baweja permitted the federal agency to interrogate Kejriwal in its custody after ED said this was imperative to unravel the complexities of the alleged acts of money laundering and corruption in the case.
“The accused is hereby remanded to the custody of ED till 28.03.2024 for the purposes of his detailed and sustained interrogation with respect to his role and to unearth the remaining proceeds of crime and for confronting him with data retrieved from digital devices and material seized during investigation,” said the judge in her order.
After questioning him at his home, ED on Thursday night arrested Kejriwal, hours after the Delhi high court denied his request for interim protection from arrest. The development marked a dramatic turn of events that has rocked the capital’s politics and intensified the ongoing conflict between the Union government and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) weeks before the general elections.
The trial court order came on a day filled with high drama and political tension, and hours after Kejriwal chose to withdraw from the Supreme Court a petition that challenged his arrest and sought an interim bail.
Initially, Kejriwal’s legal team, led by senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, succeeded in securing a hearing before a three-judge special bench of the Supreme Court. However, Singhvi later mentioned the matter again before the judge presiding over the special bench to withdraw the petition, saying his client would rather argue in the trial court to oppose ED’s remand application.
Notably, the shift in position came about immediately after another hearing in the Delhi excise policy case before the special bench, when Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) legislator K Kavitha, who was arrested by the ED in connection with the same case last week, was denied bail. While refusing to entertain Kavitha’s plea, the special bench said that it would not entertain a bail petition directly merely because a petitioner happens to be a political person or that she or he can afford to come to the Supreme Court directly. She was asked to go to the trial court first.
Inside the trial courtroom, the atmosphere was no less charged, as lawyers representing Kejriwal vehemently argued against his custodial remand citing lack of evidence and alleging political vendetta. ED, however, came back with a flurry of accusations, claiming to have solid proof of financial wrongdoing and corruption against the CM.
Read more: ‘Didn't expect so soon…was sitting with parents’: Kejriwal on his arrest by ED
Outside, AAP held protests and prepared to launch a stronger agitation, prompting the Delhi Police to cordon off key roads near ITO. In addition to Delhi, AAP workers protested in Punjab, Haryana, Odisha and Gujarat, among others. Dozens were detained by police. Police in Punjab, the only other state AAP rules, and Haryana, used water cannons to disperse protesters.
The party has planned to hold protests near the residence of the Prime Minister on Sunday.
Separately, a delegation of opposition leaders met the Election Commission asking it to intervene, saying the arrest had damaged the level playing field the opposition needs.
Represented through additional solicitor general SV Raju, ED pressed for 10 days of custodial interrogation to be able to unearth the “proceeds of crime” and confront the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener with accused, witnesses and evidence in the case.
It claimed that Kejriwal played a crucial role in formulation of the excise policy of 2021-22 to favour some persons and was also involved in demanding kickbacks from liquor businessmen in exchange of favours, and added that a bribe of ₹100 crore was paid to AAP in the case. Of ₹100 crore received in bribe, ED claimed ₹45 crore was spent by AAP during Goa assembly elections in 2022.
Read more: Arvind Kejriwal used his position as CM to benefit AAP, says ED in court
Raju submitted that there is concrete evidence of scam in the case and Kejriwal has been intrinsically involved in the entire conspiracy of obtaining kickbacks from businessmen in exchange of favours.
“Although summons were issued to the accused in his individual capacity, there is no legal bar in view of material collected during investigation in causing arrest of the accused in the dual capacity i.e. in his individual capacity and also as the national convenor of AAP,” added the ASG, highlighting Kejriwal has so far skipped nine ED summons for joining the probe.
Rebutting the accusations and the plea for remand, senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Vikram Chaudhary and Ramesh Gupta – all representing Kejriwal, denied there was any direct evidence against their client, adding a request for interrogation cannot be allowed based on certain statements of accused who have now turned approver to save themselves from punishment.
Singhvi added that there was no justification for arresting Kejriwal now when ED felt compelled to cite certain statements recorded in 2021-22 and that there is no criminal conspiracy of any nature which can be attributed to the CM. He further argued that Kejriwal was arrested now only because the schedule of general elections has been announced whereas the investigation in the matter has been going on since August 2022. Ruing that Kejriwal was the first sitting CM in independent India to be arrested, the senior lawyer argued that that the grounds of arrest furnished by the probe agency “did not show necessity to arrest.”
The special judge, however, allowed Kejriwal’s custodial interrogation citing a 2022 judgment by the Delhi high court while rejecting the bail plea of former AAP minister Satyendar Jain in a different money laundering case. In this judgment, the high court said that while it is difficult to get direct evidence in a case of criminal conspiracy, a money trail is required to be traced backward to ascertain the involvement of the accused.
“Therefore, in view of the above facts and circumstances, the above-named accused is hereby remanded to the custody of ED till 28.03.2024... It is directed that the accused be produced before this court on 28.03.2024 at 2 pm. It is further directed that the interrogation be conducted at some place having CCTV coverage, in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court,” said the judge in her order.
The court also allowed Kejriwal to meet his lawyers and family members during the period of ED custody, adding he be also given medication and treatment as per his medical prescription, besides medically recommended diet.
Kejriwal is the third major AAP leader to be 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. This apart, ED arrested Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader and Telangana lawmaker K Kavitha in the case last week.
“He will continue as the chief minister of Delhi. If need be, he will run the government from jail. There is no rule that stops him from running the government from jail,” Atishi said outside Kejriwal’s residence on Thursday night. The party has claimed that a survey it conducted of Delhi’s citizens said he should continue. The AAP has been preparing for his arrest for months and warned of its imminence several times.
”The entire case of the ED is based on statements from people who have been threatened by them. One important example of this is Raghav Magunta, who stated on September 16 that he doesn’t know Dinesh Arora, Arun Pillai, Vijay Nair, or any other leader of the Aam Aadmi Party,” said AAP leader and Delhi minister Atishi.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said: “This is vendetta politics, it has become very clear that the prime minister (Narendra Modi) and the home minister (Amit Shah) are rattled by the INDIA bloc which is a very strong alliance. This is not an alliance of seats it is a janbandhan (people’s alliance).”
Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said Kejriwal was arrested as he was involved in the excise scam. “Since Kejriwal has stolen, he will have to answer. If he did not commit the scam, then why would the investigating agency come after him?” he said.
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