Delhi HC upholds CM Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest by CBI in liquor policy case
Delhi HC rejects Arvind Kejriwal's plea for release in CBI case related to excise policy. AAP to challenge order in SC. Kejriwal remains in custody.
The Delhi high court on Monday rejected chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s petition to release him from jail in the case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the Delhi excise policy case, saying that the arrest was neither illegal nor without justiciable reasons as the probe agency projected “evidently enough evidence” to justify his detention and remand.
Upholding the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief’s June 26 arrest, the high court opined that there was no illegal exercise of power by the IO (investigating officer) and the former’s detention was with the written orders of the special judge, in accordance with the procedure laid down under law.
In its 48-page ruling, the high court upheld the trial court’s June 29 order remanding Kejriwal to judicial custody. It said that the CBI had explained its reasons while seeking further remand, and the special judge had considered all the relevant facts, including the CM’s “evasive replies” and “non-truthfulness” in disclosing facts on material aspects while in the agency’s custody.
“So being the case, the formal arrest of the petitioner was with the written Orders dated 26.04.2024 of the Special Judge, which was in accordance with the procedure laid down in Section 41 (2) CrPC,” a bench of justice Neena Bansal Krishna said. “Further, more relevant than the non-responsiveness or evasiveness of the Petitioner, was whether there existed sufficient suspicion and circumstances for his arrest. The argument that the arrest was illegal as violative of due procedure envisaged in CrPC, and that no prior Notice of Section 41A as mandated by law, was given to the petitioner, is without any merit. From the circumstances as detailed above, it cannot be said that there was illegal exercise of power by the IO.”
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The AAP said it will challenge the high court order in the Supreme Court.
While affirming Kejriwal’s arrest, justice Krishna also refused to consider the his seeking bail in the same case and granted him liberty to approach the city court for regular bail.
“It may also be noted that when the bail application was filed before this court, the charge sheet had not been filed. However, in the changed circumstances, when the charge sheet has already got filed before the learned special judge, it would be in the benefit of the petitioner, to first approach the court of the sessions judge,” the court noted in its four-page order uploaded separately.
Senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi, N Hariharan and Vikram Chaudhari appeared in the case for Kejriwal, while CBI was represented by special counsel DP Singh.
Singhvi had argued that Kejriwal’s arrest in the case was nothing but an “insurance arrest” to ensure that the CM is prevented from coming out of jail after getting bail from the top court in a related case filed by the Enforcement Directorate. The lawyer pointed out that Kejriwal’s arrest was a “unique case” since the arrest under the PMLA, which is the predicate offence, was made prior to the arrest in the CBI case.
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Rejecting the plea, the judge observed that the CBI had “well explained” the reasons for not immediately proceeding against the AAP supremo after the registration of FIR and the arrest “did not reek of malice”. The court said that CBI proceeded with further investigation in the matter against the CM and arrested him only after it collected sufficient evidence and obtained sanction in April.
“It is correct and true that the petitioner herein is not an ordinary citizen of this country but is a distinguished holder of the Magsaysay Award and convener of the Aam Aadmi Party. The control and the influence which he has on the witnesses is prima facie borne out from the fact that these witnesses could muster the courage to be a witness only after the arrest of the petitioner, as highlighted by the learned special prosecutor. Also, it establishes that the loop of evidence against the petitioner got closed after collection of relevant evidence after his arrest. No malice whatsoever can be gathered from the acts of the respondent,” the court maintained.
Justice Krishna also turned down Singhvi’s contention that non-cooperation with the probe or failure to give satisfactory answers were not “justiciable grounds” for seeking a person’s custody or arrest, and the arrest was illegal as the probe agency’s June 25 application seeking permission to arrest did not specify the grounds. The court was of the view that the arrest was not based solely on ambiguous terms of non-cooperative attitude and evasive replies but the same were duly qualified and explained in the June 25 application seeking permission to arrest the CM.
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Singhvi had argued that there was no need for the city court to grant permission to the investigating officer in the CBI case to examine Kejriwal at the Central Jail since he was already in judicial custody. Calling the argument “fallacious”, justice Krishna ruled that the June 24 application to examine the CM had to be moved as Kejriwal was “detained” in judicial custody in the PMLA case and his detention would have barred the IO in the CBI case to examine the AAP chief had he not sought court’s permission.
The court, therefore, called Kejriwal’s argument that there existed no occasion for arrest as “not tenable”.
Kejriwal has been in custody since March 21 following his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate, apart from a 21-day interim bail in May granted by the top court for Lok Sabha election campaigning. On July 12, the Supreme Court granted interim bail to Kejriwal in the ED case, acknowledging that he had spent over 90 days in incarceration. Still, he would continue to remain in custody due to his arrest in a separate case being investigated by the CBI related to the same matter.
The case against the CM stems from allegations of irregularities in Delhi’s now-scrapped excise policy of 2021-22, which the CBI began probing following a recommendation by Delhi’s lieutenant governor in July 2022. Kejriwal was the third AAP leader arrested in this connection. Former deputy CM Manish Sisodia has been in jail since February 2023, and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh was granted bail by the top court in April, after six months of custody.
The AAP leaders have denied any wrongdoing.
In a statement, the AAP said: “The petition before the high court was challenging certain technical aspects of the law, as to non-compliance by prosecution of certain legal provisions. The CBI case has not been decided on merits. We respectfully disagree with the HC and will challenge it before the Supreme Court.”