The Enforcement Directorate on Friday in a fresh supplementary chargesheet named Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal for the first time as an accused in the money laundering case related to the now scrapped Delhi liquor excise policy 2021-22.
The central probe agency has also named Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as an accused in the case.
"We have direct evidence that Kejriwal stayed in a seven-star hotel, whose bills were partly paid by an accused in the case," additional Solicitor General S V Raju told the Supreme Court on Thursday, adding that Kejriwal played a key role in the formulation of the Delhi excise policy, which has now been scrapped.
Arvind Kejriwal arrest LIVE coverage
The ED told Supreme Court it discovered chats between Arvind Kejriwal and hawala operators regarding the alleged proceeds of crime in the excise policy case.
The agency claims the chats have been recovered from the devices of hawala operators after Kejriwal refused to share the password of his devices.
The top court reserved its judgment on Kejriwal's petition challenging validity of his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate. It gave liberty to the Delhi chief minister to move trial court for bail without prejudice to his rights and contentions before the SC.
Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21 after he skipped nine summonses issued to him by the agency. Last Friday, he was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court. His party colleague Sanjay Singh was granted bail last month. Two other party leaders Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain are still in jail.
The ED had filed its money laundering case to probe alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise policy of 2021-22 on August 22, 2022, taking cognisance of a CBI FIR that was lodged on August 17, 2022.
The CBI had filed an FIR after Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena recommended a probe into the alleged irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the liquor policy.